Wednesday Journal 051822 by Wednesday Journal

W E D N E S D A Y

May 18, 2022 Vol. 42, No. 42 ONE DOLLAR @wednesdayjournalinc

@wednesdayjournal

JOURNAL @oakpark

of Oak Park and River Forest

Wright Plus this Saturday Page B1

Fewer lifeguards, so Rehm Pool closes earlier Park district is looking for applicants By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

Ready for their close-up

Due to a shortage of lifeguards, the Park District of Oak Park has adjusted the daily operating hours of the Rehm Park swimming pool, which opens Memorial Day weekend. Swimmers will be able to take a dip in the pool as early as 9 a.m. each day but no later than 7 p.m. in the evening. In previous years, Rehm Park pool time ended at 8 p.m., but the park district was prompted to close the pool an hour earlier to ensure availability of lifeguards. The park district hires about 100 lifeguards each year to oversee its two swimming pools, but this season the team is short-staffed. There are approximately 20 fewer lifeguards this year, according to Executive Director Jan Arnold. If any lifeguards are out there looking for a new summer gig, the park district is still accepting applications in the hopes of filling

Blue-carpet send-off at the Oak Park Conservatory for OPRF’s prom STORY BY F. AMANDA TUGADE, PAGE 14

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

See LIFEGUARDS on page 17

! H S S W A E L F N You can get local news delivered right to your email in-box. Sign up for FREE at OakPark.com

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Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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Thanks for keeping me honest

arlier this month, I was chastened by a reader’s emailed thoughts about my May 3 column, “My short reaction to Roe.” I think the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court opinion that protects abortion access, may very well mark the end of the court’s legitimacy in the minds of many Americans. It’s a scary prospect and resonates beyond abortion to virtually every area of American jurisprudence, because if a country of laws doesn’t believe in the highest legal court in the land, we’re pretty much screwed. I said as much in that column. My column seemed to be an “intellectual exercise” on the Court’s credibility, the reader said. No issue taken with that, per se, she added. But another piece “on the real life impact of that legal action” might be possible, she wrote. I try to steer away from writing for applause. My goal in writing is material. I don’t consider it a performance, but a means to an end. That’s why a critique like that one, which describes my writing as an “intellectual exercise,” cuts so deeply. And I thank the reader for the gash. I really do. It keeps me honest and helps me avoid a tendency to abstract unnecessarily. I do believe that the Supreme Court, along with most American institutions (the Press included), is currently in an existential crisis. I think most Americans at this point know this intuitively and probably don’t need me to remind them, hence, I believe, the reader’s reaction. My problem is that I just keep encountering these instances of what Ira Glass, on a recent episode of This American Life, calls “apocalypse creep.” Glass starts the episode talking about the experiences of Dondo Darue, a radio show host in northern California whose friendly talk show, the Fishing Report, turned last year into a report on absurdly low water levels that prevent fishing and encroaching wildfires that can end life. “This apocalyptic feeling that so many of us have, it’s not the kind of apocalypse that happens in an instant, like nuclear bombs going off or, I don’t know, aliens

invading,” Glass narrates. “It’s climate change, so it’s slow. Dondo says, in previous years, he definitely noticed summers getting hotter, longer stretches without rain or snow. And then finally, it feels like we’re past a tipping point. Or maybe we’re not. It’s hard to be sure. It’s like apocalypse creep, the end of the world that we know oozing up around us, one hot day at a time.” Or one leaked SCOTUS decision at a time. Or one restrictive voting law at a time. Or one dead armadillo at a time (as the Tribune reports, their population is growing in downstate Illinois and the shelled desert dwellers are slowly heading north as climate changes). Or one mass shooting after another after another after another. Sometimes, the apocalypse creep is not so creeping. It’s hard for me to think about these things in a way that, say, Thomas Paine thought about British imperialism or George Orwell thought about totalitarianism. One of the scariest features of 21st century life is the seemingly complete loss of linearity. Everything, it seems, is discombobulated. So when I think about one existential crisis, I think about the imminent collapse of the whole, such that the potential loss of Roe v. Wade becomes, in my mind, the loss of SCOTUS legitimacy, which becomes the loss of the rule of law, which becomes the loss of the basis of our society as we know it. I cannot help but continue down the rabbit hole of possible world-as-we-know-itending scenarios. On top of the crises themselves, Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and YouTube and Google dish out yet another layer of discombobulation and distraction and non-linearity, further frustrating our collective attempts to focus on one apocalyptic crisis at a time. But what that reader’s email helped me realize is that this inertia by way of

MICHAEL ROMAIN

confusion is what authoritarians want. They want to leverage our discombobulation and distraction to their advantage. We are playing into their hands when we lose focus. We have to pick a target, even if it’s moving and even if temporarily. Last week, I saw some of this focus on display at a press conference where Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot launched her Justice for All Pledge — an initiative that, among other things, puts $500,000 into efforts by local organizations to ease access to abortions for women, including those coming into Illinois from other states. If Roe is overturned, a range of impassioned experts (all women) flanking the mayor during the May 9 news conference told reporters, existing reproductive health services will be overwhelmed. Qudsiyyah Shariyf, deputy director at Chicago Abortion Fund, which provides “financial, logistical and emotional support to people seeking abortion services,” according its website, said that last year about 77 percent of people calling the organization for assistance were outside of Illinois “and that number has only increased this year.” Diana Parker, executive director of Midwest Access Coalition, an organization that provides accommodation and support for women in the Midwest seeking legal abortions, said the need for the coalition’s services will grow if Roe is overturned, estimating that 100,000 people across the country will be unable to get abortions next year. Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Illinois, said her organization is preparing “to see double to five times the number of patients that we currently see for abortion care.” One state representative at the news conference described these people as “medical refugees” uprooted by a small, privileged class that is mostly cruel, uncaring, cisgendered, and so-called Christian white men. As these medical refugees stream into the state, poor,

“But most of us just don’t know how to act like existential threats are real.”

marginalized people who rely on reproductive health services in Illinois will be crowded out, essentially, and pushed even closer to the margins. If you are relatively well-off, think about these ever-marginalized people and their needs. There are concrete things you can do, such as donate to organizations like Chicago Abortion Fund and Planned Parenthood, so they can expand their capacity. Lobby your elected officials to create laws allocating even more funding for reproductive health services. Ahead of the midterm elections, campaign for a politician (preferably a woman) who understands the immediacy of the threat a white, male, Christian, cisgendered, property- and capital-hoarding political faction poses to this country. I have to admit, though, these suggestions are tepid and feeble when you think about the scale of the challenges we’re up against. Democracy and human civilization are imperiled. America really can become Gilead. But most of us just don’t know how to act like existential threats are real. It’s hard to wrap our minds around these multifold crises because we don’t have sufficient intellectual and cultural frameworks to process them. We don’t know political alternatives. We’ve forgotten how power works. We don’t know how to get to the root of things — definition of radical. Our social and political imaginations, like our boring suburbanized, monotonous and corporatized landscapes, are barren. Liberals and progressives, in particular, don’t know how to fight authoritarianism because we don’t know how to effectively think about it. In this sense, we need more, not less, intellectual exercising — and not the LA Fitness kind. We need to expose our minds to the wilderness diversity of other systems of thought beyond our liberal democratic market-based myopia. This kind of thoughtfulness and raw grappling with the root of our systemic issues may do us some good. But, to the alert reader’s point, it has to be focused, disciplined and actionable without ignoring real-life implications. If you sense my opinions straying from that purpose, please let me know. I don’t want to be David Brooks. CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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BIG WEEK May 18-25

Illinois Libraries Present: Jessamine Chan & Emily Maloney Wednesday, May 25, 7-8 p.m., virtually through Illinois Libraries Present Jessamine Chan and Emily Maloney discuss the systems of power that impact our lives, our families, and our finances, through the lens of their acclaimed books, The School for Good Mothers and Cost of Living. Register now at https://bit.ly/ILP_JessamineEmily.

Dave Specter Band featuring Brother John Kattke Friday, May 20, 7 p.m., FitzGerald’s Specter has been walking the chalk line between blues and jazz for many years, and you can hear it on his current compilation album, Six String Soul. He’s joined by multi-instrumentalist Brother John Kattke. Perfect outdoor music for the patio as spring gives way to summer. 6615 Roosevelt Road, Berwyn.

What’s Blooming On Harrison Saturday, May 21, 11 a.m. - 7:30 p.m., Oak Park Arts District

This all-day community festival features arts, crafts, food, beer, rides for the kids, and live entertainment, ranging from choral to acoustic to punk. And one of those punk acts is Chicago’s own veteran ‘80s rock band, Barbie Army, featuring Jean Lotus, former editor of the Forest Park Review. Harrison Street between Austin and Ridgeland, Oak Park.

Listing your event

Chess Champs Saturday, May 21, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Main Library Storytime Room Luis Tubens leads a chess workshop and open play chess club. Recommended for ages 5-13. Register now at oppl.org/calendar. 834 Lake St., Oak Park.

Rene Avila’s Afro-Cuban Quintet Saturday, May 21, 9 p.m., FitzGerald’s Afro-Cuban jazz, featured in the club sidebar. 6615 Roosevelt Road, Berwyn.

Miss Barb Clifford & the Shakin’ Tailfeathers Sunday, May 22, 11:30 a.m., FitzGerald’s Chicago’s crown princess of R&B-infused rockabilly returns. 6615 Roosevelt Road, Berwyn.

Wednesday Journal welcomes notices about events that Oak Park and River Forest groups and businesses are planning. We’ll work to get the word out if you let us know what’s happening by noon Wednesday a week before your news needs to be in the newspaper. ■ Send details to Wednesday Journal, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, 60302 ■ Email calendar@wjinc.com

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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D97 ups indoor masking rules, fixes reporting snafu Masks required during indoor school events as cases rise By F. AMANDA TUGADE

7 to 0, to make masks mandatory on certain occasions to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Last week, the district reOak Park District 97 is tightening up ported a total of 239 cases among staff and loosened restrictions as COVID-19 cases students, shuffling approximately 178 others continue to rise among staff and students. into quarantine. The district also recorded Starting Monday, May 16, district employ- outbreak cases at five elementary schools: ees and students were required to wear Whittier, Irving, Longfellow, Mann and Linface masks on field trips, including on the coln. Reported COVID cases are also bus to the trip location. Masks rising at Oak Park and River must also be worn by staff, Forest High School and in the students and guests at indoor District 90 River Forest elemenschool events such as graduatary schools. tion, music concerts or other At the top of the District 97 end-of-the-year celebrations meeting, co-interim Superinunless otherwise noted. The tendent Griff Powell told the board also said indoor gatherboard that the public health deings should be moved outdoors, partment voiced concerns about if possible. the way the district had been The rulings came May 13 durTHERESA CHAPPLE- reporting its case numbers and ing an emergency school board issued an order to rectify the meeting where the board met MCGRUDER situation. According to the orvia Zoom to discuss the surge in cases across the district and address gaps der, the health department was only aware in COVID cases reported to the Oak Park of a portion of positive cases that cropped Department of Public Health over several up during the first week of May. From May 2 months. The board voted unanimously, to May 6, the district recorded 214 cases, but Staff Reporter

‘Targeted’ mitigation first step to identifying COVID issues During the meeting, the public health department rolled out a set of COVID measures for the district to consider as cases continue to climb. Reading the list out loud, Powell said the district has already implemented a few of the department’s recommendations, including increasing COVID and “strongly recommending” staff and students wear masks indoors. The latter was also expanded to include mask-wearing for staff and students once they return to school after testing positive for COVID and those who are asymptomatic and in classrooms in an outbreak status. The district has also reminded staff and students that those who are experiencing

any symptoms of COVID should stay home. Chapple-McGruder said she has advocated for more mitigations to be placed back in schools and daycare centers as cases spike. She said “targeted” mitigations are needed, meaning taking smaller steps like issuing mask-wearing requirements during activities or gatherings known to increase the transmission of COVID-19. “We had an outbreak associated with a choir in school, so it might be during choir time you need to wear a mask or during choir time, we need to practice outside,” she suggested as an example. “We need to really be able to pinpoint where the issue is and mitigate that issue. It might not mean that we need to go back to full-fledged maskwearing all day long in school.” “I would prefer to start out mitigations targeted, and if the targeted mitigations don’t work, then go to a universal masking, if that’s what’s necessary,” Chapple-McGruder said.

the public health department said it only received reports of 57 cases and that three out of the 10 schools shared their numbers. In the order, the department noted one D97 school has not reported its case numbers since January 2022. The order called for the district to report its COVID case numbers via email “to an individual school’s health department contact within 24 hours of an individual school being notified of a positive case.” In a separate interview following the meeting, district spokesperson Amanda Siegfried told Wednesday Journal that Public Health Director Theresa ChappleAt the meeting, the seven-member board moved to require staff and students to wear face masks during portions of their field trips spent indoors, including on the bus. The board is also now requiring staff, students and visitors to be masked at indoor events, unless unmasking is determined unnecessary by a school personnel, and urging schools to move indoor activities outside. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask, to consider masking at our indoor school events – to listen to the CDC, to listen to the IDPH, to listen to ‘the science’ as people are wanting to say,” said board member Nancy Ross Dribin. “When our health officials across the country, the county, the state, locally ask us to wear masks indoors that we actually do this.” “I can’t encourage people enough,” she said. “I commend everyone for having a real high vaccination rate here. Well done. But that’s not enough to do it alone.” District 97 aside, COVID-19 cases are

McGruder notified D97 last month that she had not received updated line lists from school nurses. Line lists – which include key details about a person’s COVID symptoms, date of test results and last days of quarantine or isolation period – are used to investigate outbreak cases and are usually shared the department, Siegfried said. The district previously hired certified nursing assistants (CNAs) to help nurses enter the data on the line lists, Powell said during the board meeting. See D97 COVID on page 16 steadily rising in Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 and River Forest School District 90. Cook County now has a “medium” transmission level, with 354 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days. Board member Venus Hurd Johnson cited Evanston, another city in Cook County, whose transmission level recently moved from “medium” to “high,” forcing officials to take a closer look at reviving loosened mitigations. Evanston school officials announced over the weekend they were bringing back required masking for all staff, students and visitors in school buildings. “Right now, our status is at medium, but I remember when we were at ‘low,’” Hurd Johnson said. “Clearly, our status is increasing, and before we get to high where we really have to take much stronger measures, not just in our schools but across the village, let’s do our part – with our schools at least. And make sure we are wearing masks indoors.”

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BANNER DAY: St. Luke 8th-grader Ryann Dawson and her teacher, James Bratager, hoist the Illinois flag as Ryann prepares to represent the state.

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River Forest student moves up in history contest St. Luke 8th-grader to represent Illinois in the National History Day contest By MICHAEL ROMAIN Equity Editor

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held virtually, June 12-16. Dawson’s history teacher, James Bratager, said she’s one of 67 students from Illinois who will compete nationally. Roughly 11,000 students across the state competed in five categories: video documentary, exhibit, performance, website and paper, he said. Dawson, who plans to attend Fenwick High School next year, won the statewide performance category for “The Negro Question: Integration v. Segregation, From Slave to Scholars,” a roughly 10-minute dialogue between the great 20th century Black scholar W.E.B. DuBois and the famous Black philanthropist Booker T. Washington. “This was a debate post-Civil War about whether or not African Americans should integrate or segregate,” Dawson said in a recent interview. “My project focuses on DuBois’ ideals of the Talented Tenth and expanding as a people by becoming scholars and having certain people advance, and Washington’s ideas of segregation and See DAWSON on page 8

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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Oak Park cracking down on housing center for late audits Granted partial funding for fiscal year 2022 in contract expiring June 30

By STACEY SHERIDAN

owners. Understanding the invaluable contributions made by OPRHC, the previous village The Oak Park Regional Housing Center board continued to provide funding to the has worked to end housing segregation and center despite its tardiness in providing its promote fair housing in Oak Park for de- yearly fiscal audits to the village. Each time, OPRHC Executive Director cades. The symbiotic relationship between Athena Williams would anthe housing center and Oak swer to the board for the late Park’s village government audits, as she did again Monhas helped to maintain an day night regarding the cenintegrated community. That ter’s 2020 audit, which was partnership has begun to submitted April 29 but was sour in recent years, howdue Nov. 30. ever, due to the center’s habit The village board voted to of being late in turning in its release the $125,000 that was financial audits, a required being withheld under the cenmeasure in its funding agreeter’s 2021 funding agreement ment with the village. due to the center’s failure to “This has gone on since turn in the 2020 audit on time. 2019,” Trustee Jim Taglia said ATHENA WILLIAMS The board took a relatively Monday night. “It’s the same sterner stance on the center’s discussion, different year.” The current village board now seeks to 2022 funding agreement, which was also up break the frustrating cycle through a partial for discussion that same night. Rather than approving a funding agreefunding agreement and plans for a study sesment effective Jan. 1, 2022 in an amount of sion later this summer. Founded in 1972, the housing center was $300,000 for this fiscal year, the board voted a radical effort to counteract the troubling 6-1 to approve a funding agreement worth and rapid resegregation of Chicago’s West $150,000 through June 30, 2022 of this year. Side taking place at the time – part of a se- Village staff held off on presenting the cenries of Oak Park initiatives which proved ter’s 2022 fiscal year funding agreement unsuccessful in fostering racial integration. til after the center turned in its 2020 audit. Since then, the non-profit has expanded its The center’s 2021 fiscal year audit is due at offerings, using affirmative marketing to the end of June, coinciding with the end of attract people to the village and providing the newly passed 2022 funding agreement. Many underlying issues have contribfree services to both residents and property Staff Reporter

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uted to housing center’s inability to turn in its yearly fiscal audits before the requisite deadline. Changes in board leadership, staff turnover and the impacts of COVID-19 have made it difficult for the housing center to catch up. Williams told the village board housing center staff are bearing the responsibilities of two to four different jobs. The amendment to the 2022 funding agreement came at the suggestion of Village President Vicki Scaman, who packaged the idea as a chance for the center to correct its course rather than a castigatory measure. She also called for a study session to identify what strategies are needed to maintain integration in the future. “I definitely don’t see it as punitive,” said Scaman. “I see it more as an opportunity to really push the reset and change direction.” This view was not shared by Trustee Arti Walker-Peddakotla who was the sole village board member to vote against the partial funding agreement. She also did not believe that the board, the housing center or village staff would have enough time to prepare for a study session likely to take place in early July. Walker-Peddakotla had intended to vote in favor of passing the original 2022 agreement worth $300,000. “It’s really important for non-profits to know they’re going to be funded up until the end of the year,” she said. “To say, ‘You’re only going to be funded until the end of June,’ which is less than a month away – that’s really harsh in my opinion.”

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Seize the Spring After the longawaited arrival of spring, Mother Nature decided, seemingly overnight, to entirely skip the season and move directly from winter to summer. In all our years in the Scott industry, no one in McAdam Jr. our office can recall a spring that has been as delayed as this year. Redbuds just beginning to flower, bud break finally occurring after May 1st, and highs that barely broke 40 degrees at the end of April – these timelines are a month or so later than normal. Even forsythia, which normally blooms in late March and early April for up to two weeks, stayed in bloom for over a month! Fortunately, plants have a fascinating ability to adapt to these unpredictable and variable weather conditions. So, what should you be focused on for the coming month to bring out the best in your landscape? 1. Prune all flowering shrubs after they have completed flowering to ensure flower buds are not pruned off in the fall. This includes forsythia, lilacs, and viburnums. 2. If you haven’t reapplied mulch, mulching your beds will help retain moisture, limit weed growth, and regulate soil temperature. 3. Plant your vegetable garden! Temperatures are warm enough where your plants will stay happy and healthy. Follow these simple recommendations, and you will reap great rewards.

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Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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Stranded duckling saved from sewer

River Forest police to the rescue By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

The River Forest Police Department made an adorable rescue May 6 after receiving reports of a lost duckling stranded in a sewer. The baby bird was out on a family stroll when it waddled its way into danger. While following its mother and siblings, the tiny duckling fell through a storm grate in the 800 block of Keystone Avenue in River Forest. A rescue team of four officers were dispatched to the scene at 4:23 p.m. to extract the duckling, now affectionately named Tater, from its precarious position. After the sewer cover proved too heavy to lift, despite Corporal Dan Humphrey’s considerable brawn, the officers devised a new plan on the fly. Officers next utilized a Halligan bar, a firefighting tool used to force entry into buildings. The long bar was lowered to Tater through the grate openings but were unable to retrieve the duck.

DAWSON

History in the making from page 6 evolving as a people on their own.” Dawson, who lives in Broadview, said she lives surrounded by Black history and culture, mainly due to the activity of her parents, Brian and ShaRhonda Dawson. The Dawsons are the founders of Brondihouse, an organization that conducts workshops and creates resources “for students, educators and organizations to learn about foundational Black History,” particularly history and culture rooted in

Rather than abandon the mission and the duckling to its watery fate, the officers developed a rescue device, combining the Halligan and a loose fabric sack, and explained the new plan to Tater. The device was lowered through the storm grate. Officer Denisse Zermeno guided Tater into the device, then the duckling was raised out of the sewer to safety by Officer Anthony Cortes. Tater was then wrapped in a towel by Officer Megan Drake, who comforted the little bird with a smile. Tater’s journey did not end there, nor did his time with the River Forest Police Department. He was first transported to the Trailside Museum of Natural History, an education center run by the Forest Preserves of Cook County. The museum does not The museum was unable to care for the duckling, however, and after it was determined impossible to reunify the bird with its family, Commander James Greenwood secured a spot for Tater at Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn. Due to it being after hours, Tater could not be admitted to the shelter until the next morning. Understanding that the bird was was

PROVIDED

RIVER FOREST’S DUCK RESCUE TEAM: Officers Denisse Zermeno, Megan Drake, Anthony Cortes, and Cpl. Dan Humphrey. no jailbird, Greenwood took temporary custody of Tater. The duckling stayed the night in the commander’s home, otherwise known as “The Greenwood Home for Wayward Ducks.” The following morning, Greenwood delivered the duckling to Willowbrook Wildlife Center, where Tater will be grouped up with other ducklings until their flock

is mature enough to be released back into the wild. While Tater will surely be missed, River Forest police can rejoice in the success of the rescue mission, knowing that they saved the life of one little duckling. “It’s the little things that keep us going,” said Greenwood. “And sometimes it’s just a little duck.”

ann said. “My mom is very West Africa, according to much an Afrocentric perits website. son and learning about our Their Broadview home roots. That’s been a really is a virtual museum of big part of me as well. The Black cultural memory, [Pan-African Flag] flies extending from African outside of my house.” civilizations that existed Last week, Bratager and thousands of years ago to Dawson, both poised to the modern achievements represent the state in June, of African Americans like RYANN DAWSON wore matching “Team IlliBarack Obama and Harold Representing Illinois nois” T-shirts. They repreWashington. In February sent St. Luke’s rich tradiand March, they displayed tion of high performance some of their artifacts in in the state and national an exhibition at the Oak History Day contests. Park Public Library. “Ryann’s the fourth kid we’re sending “I grew up in a house with a lot of Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey ideals,” Ry- to Nationals,” Bratager said. “We sent two

in 2013 and one in 2018.” Even in this year’s statewide competition, St. Luke was rather dominant, with two of the six state finalists in the website category hailing from the River Forest Catholic school. Bratager said the consistently high performance is fueled by his classroom creed that his students, including Ryann, can rattle off from memory: “You’re not going to waste your mama’s money, your talent, or my time.” It’s also fueled by his teaching motto, which he very succinctly summed up when asked what sparks his passion for history and teaching. “For me, it’s six words,” Bratager said. “Every story needs to be told.” CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

“I grew up in a house with a lot of Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey ideals.”

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Mail dumped in trash can by postal carrier Incident being investigated by U.S. Postal Service investigator

By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter

A postal investigator from the U.S. Postal Service is investigating an incident of undelivered mail found dumped in a garbage can in the 1000 block of South Harvey Avenue in Oak Park. The mail was reportedly dumped by a Postal Service mail carrier, according to eyewitness accounts. If found guilty of desertion of mails, the mail carrier faces a year in prison and a hefty financial fine. Oak Park resident Ernest Compere told police he was sitting in his vehicle near his house when he saw a postal carrier dumping about two boxes’ worth of undelivered mail into his neighbor Jim Kelly’s garbage can at 7:41 p.m., May 9. Kelly and his husband arrived home later that evening to find Compere, who declined Wednesday Journal’s interview request, standing near the large bin. “He had called the police and he was

waiting for the squad car to come, so we rier returned to the vehicle, he did not have just stayed with him,” Kelly told Wednes- any mail. The neighbor then found “a large day Journal. “And just a few minutes later, quantity of unopened mail” in Kelly’s garthe patrol car did come up.” bage can, according to the When police arrived, the police report. neighbors were instructed While the incident was not to touch the mail. The documented by the Oak police officer stayed with Park Police Department, it the garbage receptacle until does not have the authority Oak Park Postmaster Kenya to investigate the incident. Thomas arrived about 15 The investigation is being minutes later to collect the handled by a postal inspecmail. One-third of the large tor through the Postal SerJIM KELLY refuse can was filled with vice. Wednesday Journal Resident mail, according to Kelly. has reached out to the PostCompere was not the only al Service for comment and witness to the mail dump. awaits response. Another resident reported Desertion of mail offences to police that he saw the come with a weighty punmail carrier park a Postal ishment. A New Jersey mail Service mail van on Harvard Street just carrier received the maximum penalty of a west of Harvey Avenue, then watched as one-year prison term and a $100,000 fine for the carrier got out and walked into the discarding mail in a dumpster during the nearby alley carrying mail. When the car- fall of 2020. The mail carrier admitted to

“Maybe he just thought, ‘Oh, screw this.’”

WE'VE GOT SOME GOOD NEWS!

dumping a total of 1,875 pieces of mail into a dumpster once in September and twice in October of that year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The dumped mail included 99 general election ballots. Finding a great pile of undelivered mail in his garbage can came as a shock to Kelly, particularly because he had begun regularly receiving his mail again. Like many others in Oak Park, Kelly was only receiving mail every two or three days due to limited staffing at the post office. In recent months, he said the mail delivery had returned almost to normal. Mail carriers have a challenging job. They are required to deliver mail six days a week regardless of the weather. Delivery shifts can begin as early as 4 a.m. and last as long as 12 hours. Noting the difficulties of the job, Kelly wondered if the mail carrier who dumped the mail into his garbage can had hit his breaking point. “Maybe he just thought, ‘Oh, screw this.’”

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Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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Drug epidemic experts bike, then share ideas

Oak Park to Maywood ride prompts dialogue as overdoses in both towns rise By MICHAEL ROMAIN Equity Editor

Last year, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in the 12 months leading to April 2021 — a nearly 30 percent increase from the roughly 78,000 overdose deaths the year before. And earlier this year, Cook County health officials announced that overdose deaths in the county were on a startling growth trajectory — from 647 in 2015 to more than 2,000 once final autopsy results from suspected cases come in. Experts are responding in a variety of ways to the growing drug overdose epidemic and the need for more robust treatment services. On May 10, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recognized the first ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day. Roughly a week later, on May 15, addiction treatment specialists and other drug prevention experts organized a bike ride from Oak

Park to Maywood and afternoon brunch to raise awareness about drug addiction treatment. Saturday’s 5-mile ride started at Grateful House, the substance abuse treatment center at 412 Wesley St. in Oak Park and ended at Way Back Inn, a substance-abuse treatment facility at 104 Oak St. in Maywood. During a brunch in Way Back Inn’s backyard, the people on the front lines of the country’s drug epidemic gathered under a tent to refresh, regroup and exchange ideas. Kelly O’Connor, the prevention services manager with Oak Park Township who heads up Positive Youth Development, which sponsored the bike ride along with Way Back Inn, the village of Maywood and the Addiction Recovery Team, said there’s a critical shortage of awareness about drug usage, which feeds into a lack of sufficient mitigation strategies. Positive Youth Development is a coalition of community stakeholders that works to identify ways of reducing alcohol and drug use among young people in Oak Park and River Forest. The first step is knowing what the young people are doing, and O’Connor’s been paying attention. What’s trending now, she and others said, are pharm parties (also called pill parties or skittles parties). The basic concept is simple. Teens throw whatever medications they see

SHANEL ROMAIN/Contributor

Way Back Inn’s Chris Ward, grant and outreach coordinator, left, and Anita Pindiur, executive director, right, lead the way.

SHANEL ROMAIN/Contributor

PEDDLING SOLUTIONS: Maywood Mayor Nathaniel Booker rides with the Bike ’n’ Brunch bunch to Maywood. lying around the house into a bowl and eat them like party candy. “Scoop up a handful and whatever you get, you get,” said Sandra Harrison, who along with her husband, Darryl, owns a leadership and development consulting firm and also works with the West Side Heroin and Opioid Task Force. “You don’t even have to know what they are.” O’Connor said emoji drug codes are also trending. She directed the Harrisons to the “Emoji Drug Code” that the DEA released last week to alert parents of codes that children could use to get drugs and that dealers use to sell them online. For instance, the code for heroin is a brown heart beside a dragon. There are also emoji combinations for everything from Percocet and oxycodone to meth and cocaine. O’Connor said while she refrains from using scare tactics, awareness about what’s happening is an important part of prevention. When it comes to opioid overdoses, O’Connor said, the most significant contributor is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that’s about 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the CDC. O’Connor and the Harrisons said more testing of opioid substances should be done, even by potential users, in order to avoid a fatal fentanyl overdose. “People need to understand that if you are going to buy something from someone off the street, there’s an 80 to 90% chance that it’s fentanyl,” O’Connor said. In Oak Park, according to data provided by the Cook County medical examiner, there

were 17 drug overdoses in 2021 — up from 11 in 2020. There have been four so far this year. All but two of those overdoses from 2020 to May 16, 2022 were caused by a combination of drugs that involved fentanyl, the data shows. In Maywood, there were 15 drug overdoses in 2020 and 16 overdoses between 2021 and May 16, 2022, with all but two of those 31 overdoses involving fentanyl. Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman, who listened to the backyard dialogue seated next to Maywood Mayor Nathaniel George Booker, said she echoes the concerns of the experts. After all, before she became village clerk in 2015 and eventually president, she was working in O’Connor’s role. The two mayors discussed ways that their respective suburbs could collaborate to help spread awareness and prevention. “During the bike ride, we talked about having the youth [in Oak Park and Proviso townships] collaborate and network,” Mayor Booker said. For Darryl Harrison, the work of drug prevention and awareness has a very personal resonance. “As a survivor of the crack epidemic, I tell people all the time, it was curiosity for me,” he said. “I was curious about this drug and I tried it. When I think about it now, I realize that could have been my last day on earth.” To learn more about the Way Back Inn, visit waybackinn.org. To learn more about Positive Youth Development, visit oakparktownship.org/prevention-services. To learn more about Addiction Recovery Team, visit addictionrecoveryteam.org. CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

For the first time since 2019, What’s Blooming on Harrison is returning to the Oak Park Arts District. Oak Park’s largest and favorite street festival, including an art fair, local business and non-profit booths, food vendors, a children's carnival, an art raffle, a beer garden, and an entertainment stage. Saturday, May 21, 11am-7pm, music and beer garden going until 9pm Free entry; kiddie carnival, art raffle and beer garden are cash only

What’s Blooming on Harrison Street Festival presented by Mosaic Counseling & Wellness

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Growing Community Media

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NewsDiningGovernmentActivismArts EducationEventsRealEstateNonprofits Dear Readers, This week we kick off our Spring Fundraising Campaign to raise $50,000 to support GCM’s local community journalism. The professional reporting and coverage that you rely on week in and week out in Wednesday Journal. You rely on us because we’ve got YOU covered—in ways that no other news source does. Wednesday Journal journalists and partners are covering YOUR homes, blocks and parks, YOUR local schools and government decision-making, YOUR local shopping and dining haunts, YOUR local civic organizations and houses of worship. We are hosting conversations YOU are passionate about in our pages and emails and on our social media. We believe that this coverage and these conversations ensure continued vitality in our shared community. And continuing this coverage and these conversations needs YOUR support. We rely on YOUR donations to generate over 25% of our operating budget, to allow us the continued privilege of providing quality news coverage of the stories that animate our community. Strengthen our shared community today with YOUR donation to support Growing Community Media’s Wednesday Journal coverage and the professional journalists on the ground reporting it. Thank you for your continued trust and support, Dan Haley, and the GCM Wednesday Journal Staff

To donate, visit Oakparkcom/donate

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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OPRF junior grabs first place at top science competition

‘I learned I can do more than I think,’ says winner Maya Souden By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

Last summer, Maya Souden was watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy where doctors were performing a heart transplant on a patient. The 17-year-old said she didn’t know exactly what the procedure entailed but picked up from the dialogue that the doctors needed to use surgical clamps to close the heart’s major blood vessels, a vital step in the surgery. For Souden, that episode became a jumpoff point for an idea for a new project. A junior at Oak Park and River Forest High School, Souden turned to teacher Allison Hennings and used her science class to develop a new device, one that would enable doctors to control the blood flow by applying pneumatic pressure. Souden’s idea – which she later turned into a working prototype – won first place at this year’s Illinois BioGENEius Challenge and a spot in next month’s international competition in San Diego. Souden said she created a cuff that could be wrapped around a blood vessel like the aorta and inflated to compress the vessel and slow down the blood flow. She used a 3-D printer to help mold the device and ran a series of tests to see if the cuff worked, noting all the challenges she ran into with each trial. “When you’re dealing with something that large [like the aorta], it’s easy,” Souden said. “If you completely cut off blood flow, a lot of other stuff gets messed up in the body. You have risk for a lot of different kinds of ischemic injuries, which is just a product of tissue not getting enough blood flow.” Souden shared that most of her work took place in Hennings’ Investigative, Research, Design and Innovation (IRDI) class this past year. Souden was one of 11

students in the class who annotated scientific journals and found gaps in scientific research. “One of the things that people often ask is how do these kids come up with this stuff ? A lot of it’s just crazy off-the-wall stuff,” Hennings said. The answer is simple. “They have such unique perspectives because they’re not necessarily experts,” she said. “They’re looking at the world kind of like a child – totally fresh and just trying to play around with things and learning how to really discover new ways of doing lots of different things.” That’s exactly what Souden did when she developed her surgical device: She just played around. She leaned on her interests in soft robotics, which inspired her to create an inflatable cuff. Through her research, Souden also discovered that a similar device to hers had already been made to accommodate smaller blood vessels, not larger ones. “It was kind of promising seeing that worked on a smaller scale because that means hopefully something like this could work,” Souden said. With her prototype, Souden said she constantly had to remove air bubbles. “The thing about making a balloon,” she said, “is you have to make something really airtight and hollow and stretchy.” Souden said that’s why she found it important to share her idea at the competitions and break down the point of her project. . “I was essentially trying to show that this idea could work if you gave me a lot more time and money,” she said, laughing. As Souden reflected on her project, she talked about the work she put in the last year. She shared some insight on the confidence she gained from public speaking and working alongside her classmates, all of whom also entered their own projects in three different competitions. Souden spoke about the support she received from Hennings and being intrigued by scientific research, something she would like to put on hold for now but return to soon. “I learned that I can do more than I think I can,” she said.

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

GO WITH THE FLOW: OPRF student Maya Souden created a device to control blood flow during surgery.

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Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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Prom is back at OPRF after 2 years of COVID pain

‘I’m blessed to be able to say I’m going to prom,’ says one student By F. AMANDA TUGADE Staff Reporter

It’s around 1 p.m. on a Friday, and Demetrius Dortch and his mother, Nieta, are at K&G Fashion Superstore in the Cermak Plaza. Nieta just picked up her teenage son from school and headed to the Berwyn store to pick up the rest of his prom suit, a black dress shirt and a pair of black slacks both tailored to fit. As the two walked toward the dressing rooms to collect the missing pieces and do a final fitting with a tailor, Demetrius quickly recited his to-do list before the big night, including getting his hair cut, colored and twisted. “[I’m] dying it a little lighter blonde,” Demetrius, a senior at Oak Park and River Forest High School, said May 13, the day before prom. He set an appointment for the morning of May 14, making sure he was picture perfect by nightfall. For many teens like Demetrius, prom is a quintessential moment in their lives, a tradition coupled with graduation used to close the final chapter of high school. And for the last two years, prom and a slew of other milestone events at schools including OPRF have hung in the balance because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, with schools nationwide fully reopened and mitigations now loosened, OPRF was able to plan its first prom since 2020. “I’m just excited that our students get to experience something very ‘normal’ for a high school student to experience,” said Susan Johnson, director of student activities at OPRF. When Johnson and her team first started planning prom in December, they wondered if they needed a back-up. At that time, the city of Chicago announced vaccine requirements for people ages 5 or older at various public places, including restaurants, bars, gyms and other entertainment venues. “We knew we had to work that into our plans and how we collected information from students,” Johnson said. As the months pro-

gressed, local and state health officials started lifting COVID guidelines, including the indoor mask mandate. From there, Johnson and the school’s prom committee moved forward, booking the event room at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile and ironing out their dinner menu. “We can do it without restrictions,” Johnson said about hosting this year’s prom. “It’s very exciting. We don’t have a limit on capacity. We don’t have things that are stopping them from going if they want to, and I can’t wait to see their smiling faces.” Echoing Johnson, Demetrius and his classmates, Madeleine Niewoehner and Tia Ford, said they were looking forward to the dance, a milestone they knew other graduating classes were unable to have. “I’m just blessed to be able to say that I’m going to prom,” said Ford, who served on this year’s prom committee with Niewoehner. “Two years ago, students were devastated because they were unable to have prom. Just the thought of it makes students feel good.” Over the phone, on her way to a hair appointment, Ford told Wednesday Journal that she was wrapping up her sophomore year when the first wave of the pandemic hit, shuffling her and her classmates into months of remote learning. This year, she said, was her first full year back into the school building. “It just gave me chills,” said Ford, reflect-

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

RESPLENDENT: Demetrius Dortch is center stage with guests at an OPRF prom send-off party, May 14, at the Oak Park Conservatory. ing on the last four years of high school. “It’s been new for all of us, new for me. The ups and downs. Through all the struggles because of COVID. But I’m happy the Class of 2022 pushed through, and we’re all going to be together.” Niewoehner added she realized some of the pandemic’s impact when she started applying to colleges and the forms asked for recommendations from teachers who “know you best.” “It’s hard because my last teachers that knew me were either freshman year or this year,” Niewoehner said over Zoom. While Niewoehner connected with some teachers right before her sophomore year was disrupted, she felt like those relationships were

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

LAUNCH TIME: Family and friends gather at the conservatory for pictures and well wishes before their OPRF seniors head to the first prom in two years.

jeopardized during the pandemic. Demetrius, too, said the pandemic strained his football season and impeded the recruiting process. Beyond that, his mother told the Journal their family lost a loved one to coronavirus, which took a toll on them. For the Dortches, Ford and Niewoehner, prom was more than an event to show off their outfits (though Ford was eager to sport her sparkly blue gown and rainbow Christian Louboutin heels while Niewoehner wanted to flaunt her dress and matching glittery nails and dangling jewelry). To them, prom was about togetherness. On May 14, around 5 p.m., Nieta Dortch and her family gathered at a small event room inside the Oak Park Conservatory, taking pictures of Demetrius who strolled in his royal blue attire matching the decor around him. His family rolled out a flashy blue carpet for Demetrius, which led to a glitzy photo backdrop, a “Prom Night” banner capping off the look. Demetrius’ friends followed afterward, their families behind them, capturing every moment. Demetrius’ parents, aunts, cousins and family friends arrived at the conservatory earlier that afternoon to fix up the room with balloons and stars, all of which played off the colors of Demetrius’ wardrobe: blue, black and silver. The family laid out a food spread for all to enjoy. As the hour drew closer to the dance, Nieta and other parents moved outside to watch their children board the party bus. Demetrius tossed his car keys to his father and headed to catch the bus, Nieta taking one last look at her son before he went off into the night.

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken … with a side of mild sauce By DAVID HAMMOND

Oak Park Eats

riving by Puree’s last winter, I spotted the sign “Mild Sauce” in the window facing Lake Street. Mild sauce, like giardiniera, is a Chicago original condiment, and I’d never seen it offered in Oak Park. When I went back to Puree’s, however, it was closed for good, and the signs on the windows announced the arrival of Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken. When we were living in Hyde Park/Kenwood on the South Side, Harold’s Chicken Shack — with the fetching neon sign of the chef with a hatchet chasing a chicken — was a favorite place that we visited as much as our student budgets would allow. But Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken is not related to Harold’s Chicken Shack. They’re different companies, though they offer many of the same menu items, including mild sauce. Harold’s Chicken Shack has long had a very popular version of mild sauce, and mild sauce versions vary by vendor. The recipe for each version of mild sauce, though closely held, frequently includes ketchup, and maybe also barbecue sauce, sometimes hot sauce or vinegar, or a combination of those ingredients. Mild sauce, like many Chicago-invented foods — Italian beef, flaming saganaki, deep dish pizza, etc. — has an uncer-

PHOTO BY DAVID HAMMOND

Lunch from Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken tain genesis. Various contenders fight for the title of “originator” of the stuff. Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken has four locations around Chicago, and the one we’ve visited is right across the border from Oak Park in Austin, 5611 W. Madison. The founder of Uncle Remus — and perhaps the inventor of mild sauce — was Gus Rickette, who first started selling chicken in the early 1960s.

Mild sauce is one of Chicago’s original food items that Monica Eng and I cover in our upcoming book, Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 of the City’s Best Hometown Bites (University of Illinois, 2023). Oak Park’s Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken was very crowded at noon last Saturday, May 14; it had opened only an hour before, and the place was filled with customers waiting for their orders. Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken prepares your food when you order it, which is definitely the way you want it: hot and fresh, rather than cooked 10 or more minutes ago and then set under a heat lamp waiting to be ordered. The chicken meat from Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken was moist and abundant; the breading on the bird was light and crisp, as was the breading on the fried shrimp. Though for some reason a lot of breading fell off the shrimp before it got to my mouth, the flavor of the shrimp itself was very good. Alas, the fries were mediocre (commodity stuff, not so crisp) and the cole slaw was not good: it had a slightly off-flavor. This was, however, the opening hour of opening day, and it’s likely those items will improve with time. And realistically, no one probably goes to Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken for the fries or the coleslaw. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for good fried chicken in downtown Oak Park (and admittedly, there aren’t a lot of options), Harold’s Shrimp and Chicken is a solid choice — and if you’ve never had mild sauce, ask for it on the side. It’s a Chicago original.

IGOV presents

do you know...oak park government 101 Learn about: Individual Governing Partners, Boards vs. Staff, Introduction of new CEOs Saturday, May 21, 2022 • 9 am-11:30 am Brooks Middle School • 325 S. Kenilworth Masks are required for all individuals attending the event.

Learn more at www.op97.org/news

IGOV

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

D97 COVID

Masks, as cases rise from page 5 “It was news to us, in April, that [ChappleMcGruder] wasn’t getting that information,” Siegfried told the Journal, adding the district contacted its nurses and IT department to try and solve the “technology issue.” Siegfried said the district was unaware those issues persisted until the health department posted an order on the village website on May 12. Chapple-McGruder told the Journal she learned about the high number of COVID cases at Percy Julian Middle School last month after a parent called her and brought up the district’s COVID dashboard. Over the last few weeks, Chapple-McGruder said parents reached out to her, asking for more details on the uptick of cases across D97 schools. The public health director said she has been working with the district “to get those alerts” and gain access to files, “but it took a while in order to get it figured out.” Prior to April, Chapple-McGruder said she received updated line lists from the school nurses and met with the schools weekly, but

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM that all changed partly due to some staffing issues at D97. “I was given a district contact but was asked to not directly contact the school nurses,” she said. “As a result of that, I think [there] was maybe some level of confusion as to where the line lists should go, if the nurses should contact me with the line lists or if they should go to the district. I really don’t know what that breakdown was, but that’s when the major breakdown occurred.” Chapple-McGruder said she started noticing a more “uniform problem” and that only a handful of schools were reporting case numbers on a consistent basis. Siegfried confirmed that Chapple-McGruder was to contact Donna Middleton, senior director of student services who oversees the nursing team. Siegfried said the district’s interim superintendents asked ChappleMcGruder to connect with Middleton to help “streamline” the information about COVID protocols, not student cases. “The reason this request was made was because the nurses were receiving conflicting information from the health department and the district regarding certain rules/protocols once the state published new guidance in March,” Siegfried said. “The goal of the superintendents was to

streamline communication and ensure that all nurses were receiving the same message, and also to make sure that Dr. Chapple had a dedicated point of contact,” Siegfried said. “We acknowledge that there may have been some confusion about the implications of this request, but again, there was no intent on the district’s part to cut off access. Donna has communicated with Dr. Chapple frequently over the past several weeks.” At the May 13 meeting, Middleton and Hilary Winkelhake, a nurse at Whittier Elementary School, assured the board they were addressing Chapple-McGruder’s concerns. “We [the school nurses] work very closely together, and we have been working our butts off to be honest,” Winkelhake said over Zoom. “We work very hard with COVID. Our line lists are updated constantly. We put in every night and lots of hours on the weekend. All of us do. … “... This is all on top of our regular duties, including seeing students, taking care of diabetics, taking blood pressures of teachers who need it, making sure that student down the hall didn’t come in contact with something they’re allergic to, giving an EpiPen the other day and calling 911,” Winkelhake added. Siegfried told the Journal that the attor-

neys from both District 97 and the village of Oak Park were to meet May 16 to iron out the specifics of the health department’s order, which has since been taken down from the village website. Winkelhake said she and other nurses have expressed concern over providing positive cases to the health department within a 24-hour period. “Sometimes, 24 hours isn’t doable for us,” she said. “Yesterday, I had to give an EpiPen [to a student] and that took four hours with EMS coming and going to the hospital and all that stuff. We try as best we can.” Powell asked Winkelhake if a 48-hour period seemed more reasonable, to which she responded: “Yeah, I think so. We got a lot going on.”

Vaccine clinic May 19 The Oak Park Department of Public Health is hosting another COVID-19 vaccination clinic May 19 for individuals aged 5 and older. The clinic will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church, 405 S. Euclid Ave. in Oak Park. For more information or to register, visit the village website at www.oak-park.us or events.juvare.com/ IL-IDPH/9unkw/.

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

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READY TO RESCUE: A lifeguard watches over the kiddie pool at Rehm Pool in 2019.

LIFEGUARDS Help wanted from page 1 those 20 vacancies. “We are continuing to do swim tests and hiring for those guards, so we’re hoping to get those numbers up,” said Arnold. The change in hours only affects the Rehm pool. The number of people who continue to swim past 7 p.m. at Rehm is typically low anyway, according to Arnold. The hours for swimming at the Ridgeland Common Recreation Complex have not changed. Swimming past 7 p.m. at Rehm is not entirely out of the question, however. On days where the temperatures are extremely hot, the park district may allow people to swim until 8 p.m. “Our plan is if we have a hot weather day and if we can assemble the guards to keep the pool safe, then we’d extend it for another hour that day,” she said. Oak Park is far from the only park district facing a lifeguard shortage. Some pools are staying closed the entire season because of the lack of available lifeguards. The Fox Valley Park District in Aurora announced late last month that the Phillips Park Family Aquatic Center would not open this year due to the lifeguard shortage, despite increased recruitment efforts. “I have heard there are some pools not opening until June and some not opening at all due to staff shortages,” Arnold said.

“We are glad not to be in that position.” Last summer, the Chicago Park District closed a number of its indoor pools because there weren’t enough lifeguards to supervise those pools in addition to the city’s beaches and outdoor swimming pools. That program also suffered from the added scandal of widespread sexual abuse allegations involving lifeguards, which WBEZ exposed last year. The Chicago Park District recently launched a new marketing campaign to encourage people to become lifeguards while highlighting the diversity of the program. The campaign features diverse members of its lifeguard team, posing next to the words, “I am a Chicago lifeguard,” and a personal quote from the lifeguard about the importance of the job. The campaign was described in a Chicago Park District News release as drawing “attention to the unique backgrounds and life experiences of our lifeguards while inspiring Chicagoans of all ages and backgrounds to see lifeguarding as fulfilling and positive employment.” The Chicago Park District is still recruiting lifeguards for the 2022 season. Not having enough lifeguards is not unique to the Chicago area alone. Lifeguards are in short supply across the country. Newsweek reported in March that the American Lifeguard Association expects that at least one-third of public pools are at risk of being shut down this summer due to the shortage of lifeguards. Shaving off one hour each day of pool time is a relatively small concession compared to having no pool access at all.

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Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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Cyclist hit by car in hit-and-run

A 58-year-old Oak Park woman suffered a cut to her forehead and pain in her shoulder after she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle Monday morning. The woman was traveling southbound through the intersection of Home Avenue and Jackson Boulevard at about 7:45 a.m., when she was hit by the front bumper of a vehicle that was traveling east on Jackson, according to police. The woman was transported by paramedics for treatment. The driver, a 21-year-old woman from Chicago, fled the scene with the bicycle still lodged under the vehicle. She was later seen removing the bicycle. The Chicago Police Department later located the driver, who was then identified by a witness. She is currently awaiting charges in the custody of the Oak Park Police Department, which is investigating the incident.

Aggravated assault arrests ■A

Chicago man with an Austin address was arrested for striking an Oak Park police officer while he was being detained for threatening bodily harm to a 16-year-old female at 5:32 p.m., May 11 at the CTA train station at 720 S. Austin Blvd. The suspect was charged

with aggravated assault and aggravated battery to a police officer. ■ A male juvenile from Chicago was arrested after being identified as the offender who threatened two people sitting in their vehicle by pulling up his shirt and exposing a black handgun at 9:53 p.m., May 14 in the 600 block of South Harvey Avenue. The juvenile gave conflicting information upon his arrest and was found to have an active warrant for a parole violation. The juvenile also damaged the wall of the processing area in the Oak Park Police Department. Police recovered the handgun and the juvenile received two charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and one charge each of criminal damage to government property and aggravated assault and obstruction of justice.

Burglary ■ Someone broke into a black 2015 Nissan Rogue, ransacked its interior then removed two pairs of sunglasses from the vehicle between 7 p.m., May 9 and 8 a.m., May 10 in the 200 block of North Kenilworth Avenue. The estimated loss is $400. ■ Someone broke the front passenger’s side

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Recovered stolen vehicle

window of a gray 2017 Dodge Journey then removed cash and a blue jacket from the vehicle between 6:30 p.m., May 9 and 8:36 a.m., May 10 in the 100 block of South Oak Park Avenue. The estimated loss is unknown. ■ Two pairs of sunglasses, a phone charger and cash were taken from a green 2018 Subaru with an unlocked door that was parked in the 800 block of Erie Street between 4 p.m., May 9 and 12:30 p.m., May 10. The estimated loss is $410. ■ Someone shattered the driver’s side window of a Toyota Sienna to grab a garage opener, then opened the garage and took a black and white Schwinn bicycle between 6 p.m., May 11 and 7:30 a.m., May 12 in the 600 block of South Euclid Avenue. The estimated loss, including the cost of the damage, is $580. ■ Someone broke into a green Subaru Forester, ransacked the center console and broke the fuse box, while the vehicle was parked in the 600 block of North Taylor Avenue between 5 p.m., May 13 and 11:30 a.m., May 14. ■ Someone ransacked the interior of a gray 2014 Chevy with an unlocked door and took about $1 in change from the vehicle between 10 p.m., May 13 and 10:50 a.m., May 14 in the 400 block of North Lombard Avenue.

The black 2014 Toyota RAV4 reported stolen out of Oak Park April 30 was recovered by the Cape Girardeau Police Department May 10 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Theft An Uber driver’s Apple iPad was stolen from under his seat while driving a male passenger, who reportedly wrapped the tablet in his jacket while sitting in the backseat at 3:43 p.m., May 12 in the 600 block of Clarence Avenue. The estimated loss is $575. These items, obtained from the Oak Park Police Department, came from reports, May 10-16, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.

Compiled by Stacey Sheridan

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Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

SPORTS OPRF girls race to sectional title, advance 10 to state Welin makes 2022 debut by winning 1,600 meters, placing 2nd in 3,200 By BILL STONE Contributing Reporter

For Oak Park and River Forest High School seniors Josephine Welin and Samantha Duwe, the IHSA Class 3A Proviso East Sectional on May 11 was quite a comeback. Numerous Huskies took advantage of the finally beautiful weather to advance 10 entries to the Class 3A girls track and field state meet and claim their first sectional title since 2018 (148 points) by 91 points. Welin won the 2021 state championship in the 3,200-meter run (10:36.36) and was second in the 1,600 (4:42.55), but this was her 2022 season debut after recovering from a stress fracture. Welin won the 1,600 (5:04.91) and was second in the 3,200 (11:05.21) to OPRF sophomore Katie Stabb (lifetime-best 11:01.26). Because Welin had no seed times, she ran in lower-seeded first heats of both races. “It’s definitely different than last year,

when I had so much training under me, but I’m really glad that I have the opportunity to run at state my senior year,” Welin said. “I’ve only been running three to four times a week and the longest I’ve run is like five miles. I’d love to try to get all-state (top nine).” Top-two sectional finishers automatically advance to state along with entries that achieve state-qualifying standards. OPRF also won the 800 relay with juniors Rhea Richards and Saniya Shotwell, sophomore Chloe Johnson and senior Darnesha Fraley (1:44.87); the 1,600 relay with senior Lucca Bibbey, freshman Bella Brauc, sophomore Willa Aumann and Shotwell (4:11.07); and the 3,200 relay with Duwe, sophomores Samantha Welin and Lenny Sterritt and junior Natalie Quinn (9:54.91) – all season-best times. Advancing in second were Fraley (200 in personal-best 25.88), senior Lena Tang (2.82m/9 feet-3 inches in pole vault), junior Reese Garland (34.52/113-3 in discus), Quinn (1,600 in 5:30.24) and the 400 relay of Richards, Shotwell, Johnson and Fraley (seasonbest 49.01). Tang won the tiebreaker for second with OPRF sophomore Hannah Franke, whose 9-3 was a personal best. Fraley and Richards are the Huskies’ only

PAUL NICKOLEY/CONTRIBUTOR

OPRF senior Lena Tang advanced to the state meet in pole vault after clearing 9 feet, 3 inches and finishing second at the May 11 sectional meet at Proviso East in Maywood. other 2021 state returnees from the 800 relay. “[This season] it just feels like I’m more a part of the team,” Richards said. “It feels like we’re almost connected more. It’s just good to go with good friends.” From their previous season bests, the 400 relay dropped two seconds, the 800 relay four, the 1,600 relay 11 and the 3,200 relay 26 seconds. “I feel like we took it way more competitive this year. We all, as a team, fought together,” Fraley said. “I’m really tired, but I’m happy as a team.” Because of injury, Duwe’s 2:28 opening leg of the 3,200 relay marked only her second track race this season. “I wanted to help our team go down to

state and give us a good leadoff. I think I did that so I was happy with it, regardless of the time,” Duwe said. Shotwell had special motivation to also qualify with the 1,600 relay, a new event for her this season. “It was very painful [anchoring] but one of my friends [Bibbey] is a senior. I see she’s been pushing really hard,” Shotwell said. “I really wanted to make her proud before she leaves for college.” “I really, really wanted to make it to state,” said Bibbey, a 2021 state alternate. “It was a little nerve wracking. I didn’t get us in the best place [leading off], but I was really just screaming at my girls, because that’s my thing.”

Huskies regain health, form heading to postseason The Oak Park and River Forest High School boys volleyball team entered its nonconference home contest versus Leyden Township on May 12 having dropped three of four matches. The Huskies also were shorthanded as nine players were missing due to injury and COVID-19. Despite this, they were able to roll to a much-needed two-set victory over the Eagles 25-20, 25-12. “It’s really good to win a match handily, especially heading into the state playoffs,” said OPRF coach Justin Cousin. “Matches like this

help us work on things we need to work on.” Cousin was also happy to regain the services of senior captain A.J. Robateau, who had missed the previous two weeks. Robateau made an immediate impact for the Huskies (20-8) against Leyden with five kills, five blocks and four aces. “We need A.J. He’s huge,” Cousin said. “A.J.’s serving helps us and he’s a fear factor for the other team.” Robateau, a 6-foot-7 middle blocker who will play next year at Maryville University in St. Louis, was thrilled to return to the court.

“It’s great to be back. I really enjoy playing volleyball and it was hard being away,” he said. “I want to keep myself healthy so I can play consistently.” OPRF had other standouts against the Eagles, including Daniel Scholvin (4 kills, 3 digs); Peter Zurawski (3 kills, 2 aces, 3 blocks, 6 digs); Kevin Bullens (3 kills, 3 blocks, 10 assists); and Daniel Moran (7 digs). The Huskies are the top seed at the upcoming IHSA Chicago Wolcott Sectional, which begins next week, and will be a heavy favorite to make a return to the state quarterfinals.

But Cousin isn’t taking anything for granted. “We just need to stay consistent and make good passes and serves,” he said. “We also need to hit the ball well into deep corners.” The expected return of several OPRF players, including senior middle hitter Camari Bolger, will supply much-needed depth. And Cousin also feels last year’s experience, which saw the Huskies reach the state quarterfinals, will prove helpful. “We’re going to try to build off of that,” he said.

— Melvin Tate

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

S P O R T S

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Fenwick girls advance to water polo Elite Eight

Ovalle’s late winner sends Friars past York in sectional final By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

The Fenwick High School girls water polo team punched its ticket to the IHSA state quarterfinals May 14 with a 10-9 victory over top-seeded York at the York Sectional final. “It’s my first time going to state [as a head coach], so I’m very excited,” said Fenwick coach Elizabeth Timmons. “It’s all the players; they’ve decided that they have a goal and want to accomplish it.” While the Friars defeated the Dukes during the regular season, Timmons figured the rematch would be a challenge. “Everyone shows up to play at the end of the year,” she said. “Even if you win by a lot

during the season, you can’t underestimate anyone.” Things didn’t look promising early for second-seeded Fenwick (23-6-1) as York led for much of the first half. But Demi Ovalle’s goal with 1:02 left tied the game, then Linden Gierstorf ’s right before the halftime horn gave the Friars a 5-4 lead. “That was so big,” said Gierstorf. “It turned the entire tide of the game.” Fenwick took a 9-7 lead late in the third quarter, but York’s Rose Jensen tallied a pair of goals, the second of which tied the game 9-9 with 2:57 left. She finished with eight goals for the game. But a York foul on Fenwick’s subsequent possession resulted in a player being excluded, and the Friars took advantage when Ovalle scored what ultimately was the gamewinning goal. “It was really hard. I had to keep my head going,” she said. “We had to step up and we did.”

After Ovalle’s goal, Fenwick’s defense did the rest, forcing multiple turnovers down the stretch to secure the victory. “It’s amazing, we knew we could do it,” said Gierstorf of returning the Friars to the state quarterfinals. “It’s what we’ve worked for all year and we’re so excited.” Fenwick meets host Stevenson in a quarterfinal on May 20 at 5:45 p.m. in Lincolnshire. The Patriots have been a premier program in recent seasons and defeating them in their own pool won’t be easy. “Our passing needs to be better and we need to watch out for counters,” Ovalle said. “Our defense is pretty good, but we need to execute a little more on offense.” In a sectional semifinal on May 13, Fenwick defeated crosstown rival Oak Park and River Forest 10-6. Lauren Friker had three goals for the Huskies (14-17). “We started off strong, but Fenwick adapted to our drives pretty well,” said OPRF coach Elizabeth Perez. “They pressed [OPRF’s lead-

ing scorer] Rory [Cronin] hard and moved her outside. She wasn’t able to get inside much, and that hurt us.”

York halts Fenwick boys in sectional final The Fenwick boys water polo team surrendered the first five goals of its sectional final match May 14 against host York, and that early hole proved too deep to overcome as the Friars’ season ended in a 12-6 defeat. “We just couldn’t execute today,” said Fenwick coach Kyle Perry. “We had a lot of stuff we wanted to do and couldn’t follow through.” Dylan Fu and Cameron Sarvis each had two goals for the Friars (22-10). Oak Park and River Forest High School lost in a sectional semifinal May 13 to the Friars 11-6 as Sarvis scored with around 4:30 left to break a 6-6 tie and spark a closing 5-0 run by Fenwick.

Late scoring outburst puts Fenwick lacrosse past Trinity Teams head into IHSA state series matches next week By MELVIN TATE Contributing Reporter

The Fenwick and Trinity high school girls lacrosse teams met at the Dominican Priory May 9 in a tune-up for the upcoming IHSA state tournament. After a competitive first half, the Blazers scored three consecutive goals in the second half and appeared to have taken control. But the Friars responded with a 7-0 run to close out the match and secure a 13-7 victory. “We stuck to the game plan,” said Fenwick coach Tracy Bonaccorsi. “We started working our offense and executed better.” Trinity coach Jim Moy felt conditioning and experience played a large role down the stretch. “I think [Fenwick] was better conditioned. We ran out of gas,” he said. “They had more experienced subs. I have a lot of freshmen and didn’t put them in because they don’t have experience yet.” Sophomore Caroline Sutton led Fenwick (6-8) with four goals, while freshman Sade Rucker added three goals and sophomore

CAROL DUNNING/CONTRIBUTOR

Fenwick’s Caroline Sutton (left) and Trinity’s Rian Smith vie for the ball during a girls’ lacrosse match May 9. Sutton scored four goals in the Friars’ 13-7 victory over the Blazers. Elizabeth Winkel two. For Trinity (8-9), freshman Rian Smith had three goals, and senior Natalie Kazmierowicz and junior Paige Smith had two apiece. Bonaccorsi said the Friars paid extra atten-

tion defensively to Smith, who has 87 goals this season. “She was our main focus in the scouting report,” Bonaccorsi said. “Cate Krema did a great job face-guarding and following her all

over the field to take her out of the game.” Even though neither team has a winning record, both coaches feel their seasons are going reasonably well. “It’s been hard to get into a rhythm with the weather and spring break,” Bonaccorsi said. “But when we’ve had everyone here and working together, there have been a lot of positives.” “I think it’s going well. We’re getting better every day,” Moy said. “We’re learning from our losses and mistakes, and correcting them in practice.” Fenwick is the fourth seed in the IHSA St. Ignatius Sectional, while Trinity is seeded seventh in the Hinsdale Central Sectional. With that postseason tournament beginning next week, both the Friars and Blazers have things to work on. “We need to execute earlier in the games,” Bonaccorsi said. “And we need to go in with confidence, instead of playing scared. We had a couple of one-goal losses that could’ve gone either way. We wish we could have those back, but we’re looking forward to building off of each game and improving.” “We need to get better with our draws,” Moy said. “In lacrosse, if you don’t get the draw, you can’t go on offense. It makes a huge difference.”

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FRIDAY 5 P.M. Call Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at 613-3310 ktrainor@wjinc.com

You’re anti-abortion, not pro-life

lease stop calling yourselves pro-life. You’re not. You’re anti-abortion. If you were really pro-life, and if you were really making a meaningful effort to follow the teachings of Christ, then you’d try to encourage and support women faced with the difficult choice of whether to terminate a pregnancy. Studies have shown that when women have meaningful options, they choose abortion less frequently. First and foremost is family planning and access to contraception. But most of you so-called pro-life people are against that. Second, women choose abortion less frequently when there are safety-net social services available to support them. Family leave, affordable medical care, affordable daycare, Head Start and preschool programs, nutrition assistance programs, and similar services provide pregnant women the type of support which studies have shown help them to choose carrying that child to term. But again, you’re against funding those programs. Why? Because you claim we can’t afford it. And yet you had no problem spending nearly $1 trillion on the war in Vietnam, $2 trillion on the war in Iraq, and $2.3 trillion on the war in Afghanistan. Aside from the financial cost, what about the human cost? And how was that remotely pro-life? Let’s not even talk about the death penalty. Most of you supported it — and many still do! Pro-life you say? Baloney! And finally there’s this: the Bible commands you to tithe. You don’t. Personal income in this country was $19.68 trillion in 2020. Charitable giving was $471.44 billion. That’s less than 2.4%. Had you tithed, there would have been an additional $1.497 trillion available to spend on the aforementioned services you claim we can’t afford. You don’t want government to take on those costs? Then you step up and pay for them! The God you claim to love and worship commands you to do just that! But you conveniently manage to ignore that mandate, and yet have the nerve to judge and condemn women for having an abortion. Jesus had something to say to people like you: “Let he who is without blame cast the first stone.” Ultimately, you’ve had nearly 50 years to reduce the number of abortions in this country by taking the steps mentioned above. For the most part, you’ve done nothing. Instead, you stand in front of abortion clinics and scream “murderer” at the women entering. There’s a word for that. Bullying! Jesus didn’t scream “adulteress” at the woman he met at the well. His approach was to meet people where they were in life, help them address their most urgent need in a loving manner, and — by so doing — persuade them to follow a better path. Ultimately, you can lead people to Christ by following his example — or push them away from him by your actions. Think about it. Paul Eichwedel is an Oak Park resident.

PAUL

EICHWEDEL One View

VIEWPOINTS

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The Second Amendment revisited

he Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Most people think that this amendment was included in the Constitution to protect the right to bear arms (i.e., firearms). However, when I read Carol Anderson’s interesting, well-written, and very well documented book The Second, it became clear to me that this was not really the case at all. The Second Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to assure the Southern states that they would be able to continue to have militias in order to put down slave revolts and to hunt down runaway slaves. James Madison needed to keep the Southern states in the Union and on board for ratification of the Constitution. That required acquiescence to safeguarding their ability to continue slavery. The amendments to the Constitution that make up the Bill of Rights are about individual rights; therefore, the right to have a militia could not be included there. However, a militia needed armed men, and thus, the individual right to bear arms was a means to put the “right to a militia” in the Constitution and keep the Southern states in the Union. Another aspect of the Second Amendment speaks about the right of the “people” to bear arms. “People” when the Constitution was drafted meant “white male citizens.” Black people, enslaved or free, were not considered citizens. Immediately after the ratification of the Constitution, all states but one (Vermont) passed laws prohibiting Black people from owning and using guns, presumably to make absolutely sure that the right to bear arms was a white right, not a universal right. Thus, the Second Amendment assured white supremacy. Anderson shows clearly in her book that, to the present day, Black individuals who legally carry a gun are treated differently from white gun carriers by law enforcement, and this not infrequently leads to the killing of African Americans who were legally carrying a gun. The U.S. Supreme Court ignored the militia part of the one-sentence Second Amendment in the Heller vs. District of Columbia decision in 2008 when it ruled, 5 to 4, that “The Second Amendment protects

an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.” This was essentially reaffirmed in the McDonald vs. Chicago decision of the Supreme Court in 2010 (also 5 to 4). There have been no state militias in the U.S. since the National Guard was established as replacement by the Militia Act of 1903. The consequences of the Heller and McDonald Supreme Court rulings have been devastating. Gun ownership has skyrocketed in the U.S., contributing to the significant recent rise in gun homicides and injuries, as well as to suicides by guns, gun accidents, and use of deadly force by law enforcement who are afraid of people they deal with having a gun, legally or not. The wording of the Second Amendment does not support the notion that the intent of the original framers was to guarantee in the Constitution an individual’s right to own and use guns “for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.” Rather, as pointed out in Anderson’s book, the right to bear firearms was connected to the need of the Southern states to have armed militias, consisting of white men to keep Black slaves in their place. More mass shootings have occurred while I was writing this: 10 dead and 3 wounded in Buffalo in what appears to have been a white supremacist, antiBlack act of gun violence. And in Milwaukee at least 17 people were injured in a shooting where police recovered no less than 10 guns at the scene (likely handguns). Why are we waiting to ban all semiautomatic rifles and all handguns outside one’s home for which there is no “traditionally lawful purpose.” “Self-defense in the home,” if one sees a need for that, can be accomplished with a handgun — provided that it is safely stored and fitted with a trigger-lock and has a limited magazine capacity. And there is no place in the U.S. for “ghost guns” that circumvent any sort of regulation, such as universal background checks, age limits, red flag laws, stolen-gun reporting requirements, and so on. How many more people have to die in the U.S. because of the lack of common-sense gun regulation and our misinterpretation of the Second Amendment? Maarten Bosland, a former Oak Park resident, is a member of Gun Responsibility Advocates.

MAARTEN BOSLAND One View

V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

O U R

V I E W S

Mandate or cajole on climate?

ak Park is moving quickly toward an aggressive and locally focused climate action plan. A draft of the plan — worked on by citizens, village staff and a village hired consultant — was unveiled last week. The final version of the proposal will go to the village board in late June. The key targets reported last week are ambitious. Reduce emissions village-wide by 60% by 2030 and reach net-zero status by 2050. And that led to an important and complicated debate among village board members as the plan was previewed last week. As the village spells out the steps necessary to reach those tough emission goals, actual life changes will need to be made by all or most Oak Parkers. What we drive. How we heat and cool our homes and public buildings. How are these changes paid for, enforced? Two trustees, Susan Buchanan and Arti Walker-Peddakotla, were plain in saying that the days of cajoling people toward climate action are past. “We are way past the point in the climate crisis that we can encourage people and hope they will do the right thing,” said Walker-Peddakotla. “They’ve had decades to do that.” On a board that has made local climate action an absolute priority, that view was not universally held. Trustee Lucia Robinson said climate mandates were “punitive” and compliance needed to be encouraged not required. This is a fundamental debate. And one that will be difficult to decide if Oak Park is effectively an island on a planet where sea levels are rising. There is absolutely not a doubt that as a nation and a world we have squandered the short time we have available to possibly turn this crisis around. And while we have small climate successes to crow about, fundamentally we are in deep trouble. Very possibly irreversible trouble. We are ready to see Oak Park lead on climate. Finding a path on the mandate vs. encourage continuum will be a critical test of our leaders.

Equity at the library

Of all the taxing bodies in Oak Park and River Forest, it is the public library in Oak Park which has been the most intentional in focusing on equity and inclusion in its hiring, policies and programs. You can love that or be critical of it as an overreaction. But you can’t be surprised as the library has been consciously on this path for many years now. That it parted ways quickly with the executive search firm it had hired to find a new head librarian is not a stunner. That it fairly quickly turned to a local person with bona fide expertise and a strong reputation on equity seems obvious. Why Reesheda Graham Washington, a person who has done good work with the library in the past, wasn’t on a short list for the search process is the only thing surprising here. Our story on this last week has gotten some strong response, mainly to the statement that previous experience as a library director will not be required to be considered for the job. The library board has certainly not excluded those with master’s in library science from the search. But they have made clear that experience in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) would be required in its next leader. That’s fine with us. Oak Park’s library system has plenty of credentialed staff on board. Giving that staff a leader determined to pursue equity is essential and consistent with the direction this board has set. But make sure the candidates at least have a library card.

What is your core belief?

ust finished an inspiring book from 2008 titled, “This I Believe II,” the print version of an oral philosophy series that ran on National Public Radio. It caught my eye one day, peering out from a Little Free Library along my path through town. “This I Believe” was originally a series broadcast by radio legend Edward R. Murrow in the 1950s. At the turn of the millennium, Jay Allison and Dan Gediman resurrected the idea. In the book’s introduction, Allison wrote, “What would you say in 500 words to capture a core principle that guides your life? Can you name a belief that underlies your actions? In the discovered truths of your experience, what abides?” The book contains 75 short essays, from the unknown to the famous, from high school students to Nobel Prize winners. You can learn more at thisibelieve.org, but I thought, given the dispiriting times we’re living through, you might enjoy, or even be inspired by, a selection of “I believe” statements from a wide range of life experiences. Here are as many as I could fit: I believe in fighting fear. … I believe it is fear we should be fighting, not the “other.”

I believe in improvising. It’s exciting; it’s an adventure, a challenge, and a chance to be creative. … I believe there is no one way to do things. The way that works for me is the way that works right now. But that might change tomorrow.

Alice Brock

of Alice’s Restaurant

KEN

I believe in sticking my nose into other people’s business. … I believe it’s time I started sticking my nose, not just in the business of my neighbors, but in the business of the world. … I helped kill that kid, like everyone else, in the name of minding my own business.

TRAINOR

Terry Ahwal

I believe there is magic in Christmas and the music that celebrates it, because it brings us closer together and closer to our own hearts.

Brigid Brockway

I believe in the power of failure. Success is boring. … First-time success is usually a fluke. Firsttime failure, by contrast, is expected; it is the natural order of things. Failure is how we learn.

Jon Carroll

I believe that memory is never lost, even when it seems to be, because it has more to do with the heart than the mind. … Remembering has to do with turning the oven off before leaving the house, but memory is nurtured by emotion. It springs from a deeper well, safe from dementia and the passage of time.

Christine Cleary

Steve Banko

I believe in strange blessings, because taking away my house brought me home.

Robin Baudier

Hurricane Katrina survivor I believe in semi-permanent hair dye: the kind that lets you have a few wacky purple-headed weeks in the depressing months of winter term. Semi-permanent hair dye is about finding security within unlimited freedom.

Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus

I believe the same depressions that pin me to the mat so often also serve a bigger purpose in my life. I believe the purpose of suffering is to strengthen us and help us understand the suffering of others.

Andy Blowers

I believe we have the power to create our own happiness. I believe the real magic in the world is done by humans. I believe normal life is extraordinary.

Wayne Coyne

I believe in grief. … I believe both the caregivers and the cared-for should be free to scream and cry and fall to the floor — if not actually, then at least in the heart. I believe that grief, fully expressed, will change over time into something less overpowering, even granting us a new understanding, a kind of double vision that comprehends both the beauty and fragility of life at the same time.

Cortney Davis

I believe in upholding reverence for all life. I believe that humanity has a responsibility to the Earth, and to the life that we share our experience with. … I believe that my connection to all life forms

V I E W P O I N T S prevent me from sitting back and watching this catastrophe. … In honor of all life, I am dedicating myself to preventing this worldwide ecological crisis.

Michelle Gardner-Quinn

who wrote this for her environmental studies class at the University of Vermont, two days before she was abducted and murdered in 2006 My job is to take care of my customers at the counter in a small Texas diner, but I also believe we’re in this world to take care of each other. … Can one act of friendliness start to generate peace? I believe it can. Peace begins with one person but spreads like warmed syrup. When I connect with my neighbors, they return it in kind.

Ivory Harlow

I believe all that is behind the universe is conspiring to help us — if we will humble ourselves enough to let it.

Kevin Kelly

I believe in telling children the truth. I believe this is vital for their understanding of the world, their confidence, and the development of their morals and values. … I believe that my being truthful with our children has paid off, because I’m pretty sure that now they are honest with me.

Martha Leathe

Every person is precious. This I believe with my whole heart. Each time I keep watch over patients and protect them when they’re most vulnerable, my faith comes alive. It catches breath: Spiritus.

I believe that people are overwhelmingly trustworthy and deeply okay. … I see that most people share a similar moral compass: They play fair, they give each other a break, and they generally get along. I see that pretty much everyone operates by that Golden Rule thing.

Craig Newmark

founder of Craigslist I believe that God does not know the future. … I believe that the fate of our world is not locked in by Scripture, but that the future is shaped by the laws of nature and by what we humans voluntarily do during our time on this planet. … Physics does not explain the difference between sound waves and a song, or the difference between sex and love. Physics explains my body, but not my soul. … I believe soul inspires me to make decisions to diminish pain and increase love in the lives I touch. Lots of times I try, but fail. On a good day, I actually get it right! And God is pleasantly surprised.

Bill Nunan

I watch what I do to see what I truly believe. Belief and faith are not just words. It’s one thing for me to say I’m a Christian, but I have to embody what it means. I have to live it. The only way I know what I believe is by keeping watch over what I do.

former hostage in Iraq

astronaut, from Lombard, Illinois

I believe in using the turbulence in my life. I learned this studying fish. … There are natural streamlines in our lives. I find by letting go, I can harness the complex currents of my life to propel me forward. It was the fish my dad introduced me to that finally taught me this.

Jimmy Liao

I believe in the infinite variety of human expression. … I believe we must look beyond the voice we’ve been assigned and find our place among the tones and timbre of human expression.

Yo-Yo Ma cellist

I believe in being myself. I believe that I — not my stereotypes — should define who I am and what actions I take in life.

Kamaal Majeed

high school student

JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest

Editor and Publisher Dan Haley Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Michael Romain Senior Editor Bob Uphues Digital Publishing and Technology Manager Briana Higgins Staff Reporters Stacey Sheridan, F. Amanda Tugade Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Viewpoints Editor Ken Trainor Real Estate Editor Lacey Sikora Food Editor Melissa Elsmo Big Week Editor James Porter Columnists Marc Blesoff, Jack Crowe, Doug Deuchler, Harriet Hausman, Mary Kay O’Grady, Kwame Salter, John Stanger, Stan West Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea Designer Susan McKelvey Business Manager Joyce Minich Marketing Representatives Marc Stopeck, Lourdes Nicholls, Kamil Brady Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan Development & Sales Coordinator Stacy Coleman Circulation Manager Jill Wagner E-MAIL jill@oakpark.com Chairman Emeritus Robert K. Downs

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer

author of “Dead Man Walking”

I believe there are many ways we can hold one another captive. It might be with a gun, an army, a holy book, a law, an invisible free market hand. It doesn’t matter how we do it, who we do it to, or why. There is no escaping it: We ourselves become captives whenever we hold one another in captivity.

James Loney

W E D N E S D A Y

Sr. Helen Prejean

When I watch the Earth roll by, I realize I believe in optimism. It would be hard to believe that there is no hope for Earth from up here. The International Space Station is a collaboration of 16 nations. … The space station itself is the embodiment of where we can go as a global society. … I wish that everyone could see the world from my perspective. I believe that more people would be optimistic about our future.

Dr. Isabel Legarda

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

Dan Tani

A lot of wisdom here, not to mention strong conviction. I’m thankful to whoever left this book in the Little Free Library. In his introduction, Jay Allison quotes Edward R. Murrow from 1951: “We are living in an age of confusion. A lot of us have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism, or for a heavy package of despair, or even a quivering portion of hysteria. Opinions can be picked up cheap in the marketplace, while such commodities as courage and fortitude and faith are in alarmingly short supply. Around us all there is an enveloping cloud of fear.” Allison asks, “Sound familiar? We too are divided by fear — fear of the other, and even of our neighbor. And our media thrives by feeding it. We remain haunted by the same dilemmas, trapped between hope and fear. Our team chose to revive ‘This I Believe’ precisely to counter the divisiveness, the anger, the prejudice, and to raise a flag for thoughtfulness.” What do you believe?

About Viewpoints Our mission is to lead educated conversation about the people, government, schools, businesses and culture of Oak Park and River Forest. As we share the consensus of Wednesday Journal’s editorial board on local matters, we hope our voice will help focus your thinking and, when need be, fire you to action. In a healthy conversation about community concerns, your voice is also vital. We welcome your views, on any topic of community interest, as essays and as letters to the editor. Noted here are our stipulations for filing. Please understand our verification process and circumstances that would lead us not to print a letter or essay. We will call to check that what we received with your signature is something you sent. If we can’t make that verification, we will not print what was sent. When, in addition to opinion, a letter or essay includes information presented as fact, we will check the reference. If we cannot confirm a detail, we may not print the letter or essay. If you have questions, email Viewpoints editor Ken Trainor at ktrainor@wjinc.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR ■ 250-word limit ■ Must include first and last names, municipality in which you live, phone number (for verification only)

‘ONE VIEW’ ESSAY ■ 500-word limit ■ One-sentence footnote about yourself,

your connection to the topic ■ Signature details as at left

Email Ken Trainor at ktrainor@wjinc.com or mail to Wednesday Journal, Viewpoints, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302

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ADDRESS 141 S Oak Park Ave., Oak ParkIL 60302 ■ PHONE 708-5248300 EMAIL Dan@OakPark.com ■ ONLINE www.OakPark.com Wednesday Journal is published digitally and in print by Growing Community Media NFP. The newspaper is available on newsstands for $1.00. A one-year subscription costs $43 within Cook County and $53 outside of Cook County. Advertising rates may be obtained by calling our office. Periodical rate postage paid at Oak Park, IL (USPS 10138). Postmaster, send address corrections to Wednesday Journal, 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, Il 60302. © 2022 Growing Community Media, NFP.

V I E W P O I N T S

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

D200-park district pool collaboration overdue

ery heartening to read that Oak Park and River Forest High School and the Park District of Oak Park will be collaborating on rationing athletic fields for the benefit of students and taxpayers. Further heartening to read Wednesday Journal’s editorial of May 11 [OPRF, parks make a plan, Our Views, Viewpoints] supporting this common-sense, fiscally-responsible effort to maximize finite public resources. The editorial rightly noted “the high school’s abject failure years back to engage with the park district to discuss a shared pool and recreation center at Ridgeland Common” and “the high school, deep in its arrogant phase, refused to engage even as its own pools deteriorated. It was a low point and it brought us endless and unnecessary tensions and costs.” The collaboration on athletic fields needs to include the pool issue. The pool at Ridgeland is within eyesight of the school, same with the park district athletic fields. Blending use of the park district and school campuses makes sense, given that they are in close proximity. They are adjacent. The current District 200 high school board has a golden chance to correct the mistake of past boards by collaborating with the park district to cover the pool at Ridgeland Common as a reasonable, cost-efficient means of addressing the pool issue once and for all. Past estimates for doing so have been about $15 million, which is about 23% of the cost of the pool-driven Project 2 Imagine plan. Take the approximate $50 million/77% savings

from covering Ridgeland’s pool and use it judiciously on new locker rooms and especially the academic-oriented priorities in Projects 3-5. In fact, repurposing the existing pool space could generate three floors of space in a space-constrained school. D200 already set aside $20 million from the surplus toward the pool in Project 2, so that could be used to cover Ridgeland Common’s pool, which has a long lifespan ahead. The Ridgeland Common pool schedule for 2022 begins May 31 and ends September 5. That is a maximum pool season of 98 days, assuming no closures for weather; a maximum pool use of just 26.85% days of the year. In other words, no one can use the pool at Ridgeland Common 73.15% of the time. That is serious underuse of a fixed public asset. Public use of this pool could be expanded to almost 365 days per year. The school year is basically late August through early June and does not overlap much with the traditional Memorial Day to Labor Day pool season. Any overlap could be addressed by reasonable compromise. Past D200 boards’ legacy includes a festering pool issue going back many years. What a legacy it would be for the current board to settle this issue once and for all in a manner that satisfies the school, the park district and the often ignored and abused taxpayers. Are D200 and the park district willing and able to set aside egos, their fiefdom/silo mentality, and do right by students and taxpayers? That’s the $65 million question. Jack Powers is an Oak Park resident.

JACK

POWERS One View

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

What is the cost of doing nothing at OPRF? To those afraid of the tax costs of rehabbing the OPRF High School Physical Education facilities, I ask you, have you toured the facilities our students deal with every day, every semester for four years? To those who voted against the pool referendum, citing its cost or need, I ask you, have you seen the OPRF pools’ condition? The drained one is closed with dangerously rusting pipes underneath; the other is 94 years old, picking up the student overflow, tiny for the average class of 40, inaccessible to locker rooms across the Field House, and speeding toward the same fate as its sister. All OPRF students need swimming to graduate. To those reluctant to pay a tax increase, I ask you, what is the cost of doing nothing for their PE facilities? It’s not just the pool replacement. The entire PE wing needs massive, investment. All the gyms are too small, too low-ceilinged, poorly ventilated, leakyroofed, and lacking essential air conditioning. Have you sat with 84 students college testing in those gyms without air conditioning, struggling in the 90 degree heat? Some OPRF gyms don’t even have windows! Have

you seen the PE hallways crowded with equipment because the teams and programs OPRF offers our kids lack storage space? It’s dangerous. Every student, every day goes through that PE wing for a piece of their education. The cost of doing nothing is far greater than the bonds and taxes to fund the work. The repair will become more expensive the longer we wait. OPRF doesn’t just educate our children but also anchors our property values, whether you have students enrolled or not. The wing desperately needs the complete rehabilitation outlined in the Imagine OPRF plan. Daily PE is an academic class and state graduation requirement. The PE department sees every student in the building every day for four years; no other department has that student contact. To impact the greatest number of students, upgrading the PE facilities is the best investment to make and must be prioritized. This community is too well resourced to continue with sub-standard and hazardous facilities for our students.

Nancy Alexander Oak Park

AR-15: Hard, mean, not for fun

Is a semiautomatic AR-15-type rifle for recreation? Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler sang about his AR-15 Vietnam combat experience. His song, “One-Son-of-a-Gun of a Gun” is available for free on YouTube. The Second Amendment says “well regulated.” Don’t all American rights come with

American responsibilities? Why is our government not protecting us with up-to-date adequate gun regulations? Is recreational gun use more important than the continuing loss of innocent Americans?

Robert Sullivan Oak Park

Don’t rob our kids of a normal school year

Dr. Theresa Chapple-McGruder, Oak Park’s Public Health Director, published a COVID-19 Guidance for Schools on May 10. This appears to be groundwork for robbing the District 97 students of the first normal conclusion of the school year in three years. We strongly oppose this. We are Mann parents and we support the current, reduced mitigations in effect at D97 schools. The schools are safe. We strongly oppose any effort to increase mitigations for the balance of the school year. If that happens, it will only be the prod-

uct of unfounded fear, and a lack of reason. Most importantly, we insist that the Public Health director’s guidance not be allowed to serve as a pretext for eliminating the normal conclusion to the school year that our kids deserve. They should not be forced to wear masks, and they should be allowed to have the field trips and end-of-year celebrations that are already planned without interruption or change. Our kids should not be excluded from the classroom for a minute longer than absolutely necessary, and discussion in the guidance of remote learning

is provocative and inflammatory. How much longer are we supposed to put our kids’ lives on hold? The Public Health director’s guidance focuses on contact tracing and case counts. Both are misguided. Contact tracing should not be the job of our dedicated and already over-burdened school nurses. Case counts are no longer relevant at this waning stage of the pandemic. They are hardly more relevant than case counts of the common cold. Serious illness and hospitalizations do matter, but are not addressed in the guidance.

In the early days of this pandemic, the board, along with D97 teachers, staff, and administrators, operated with little information and did an excellent job of dealing with an unprecedented emergency in our community. Now, however, the emergency is over, and we know a lot more than we did back then. We urge the board to reject reflexive, thoughtless fear-mongering and allow our kids to finish the year with smiles on their faces that we can see.

Peter & Jennifer Preston Oak Park

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Perfect Weather graced the 39th Hunger Walkathon West CROP Hunger Walkon Sunday May 1st. The Planning Team wishes to thank and bless the Team Captains and Participants who raised money for this annual event and the businesses and individual donors who supported them. Due to COVID concerns and to keep gathering numbers low, we did not hold a centralized walk but each team captain arranged an event for their team. Photos from various teams are included here. Recipients of the money raised in 2021include hungry and hurting people served by international relief and development programs of Church World Service and the following ten local agencies:Beyond Hunger, Cluster Tutoring Program, First Baptist Church of Melrose Park Food Pantry, Forest Park Food Pantry, Housing Forward, Pine Avenue Food Pantry, Proviso Food Pantry, Quinn Center of Saint Eulalia Hunger Ministries, St. Martin de Porres Food Pantry, and Vision of Restoration Food Pantry. These agencies provide services in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, Oak Park, Forest Park, Maywood and Melrose Park. We are pleased to report that the amount raised to date is over $90,000. The 2021 Walk raised $134,000. The need continues and donations of any size are still welcome.

It’s not too late to donate! Just visit our website:hwwcrop.org and press the “DONATE NOW” button. THANKS TO: The following Businesses that provided financial and/or in-kind support: GOLD LEVEL: Remedial Environmental Manpower, Inc. Ideal Facilities Services Growing Community Media, NFP

SILVER LEVEL:

Team Captains and Walk Planning Team* Members Delrice Adams Lauren Brightmore Sara Catalano Marty Colchamiro* Bill Cragg Joanne Despotes* Ted Despotes Meghan Dowdle Mary Lou Dwyer* Karen Dylewski Brent Friesen Harriet Hawkins* Jerry Hills Rev. Tom Holmes* Frank Hughes Erik Johnson Laura Kliewer Ted Lietz Linda Martens

CLO Marketing, Inc. Weinstein Wholesale Meats M&M Property Management, Inc. Curfin Holding Company, Inc.

Todd & Holland Tea Merchants Mohr Oil Co. Matt Grote, Edward Jones Financial

BRONZE LEVEL:

ALL OTHER BUSINESS SPONSORSHIPS:

Forest Park Bank Downtown Oak Park Gagliardo Realty Co, Inc. Storino, Ramello & Durkin RP Fox and Assoc, Inc. Chosen Ones Learning Center

O’Sullivan’s Public House Forest Park Foot Care Center Forest Insurance Mr. Beef and Pizza of Forest Park David King & Associates, Inc. Louie’s Grill, Inc.

Charlaine McAnany Andrea McCoy Maxine McGhee Margie McKenzie Nick Menninga* Martha Minnich Cynthia Mobley* Karen Murphy Rev. Kathy Nolte John O’Rourke Amy Stearns Leon Williams Douglas Wyman* Liz Young Lynn Zamora Craig Zeller

Participating Teams (in addition to recipients): Ascension Catholic Church OP Euclid Ave United

Methodist Church OP First Baptist Church OP First United Church of Oak Park First United Methodist Church OP Good Shepherd Lutheran Church OP Hope Tabernacle Community Church – Hope in Motion May Day Marchers NAUW Ness Family Pilgrim Congregational OP Social Media St. Catherine-St. Lucy Parish OP St. Paul Thai Lutheran Church FP Team Carris Unity Church of Oak Park

Everett Wealth Solutions, Inc. Tim Stefl, Inc. Sales Directors, Inc. The Golden Triangle Elite Tire and Auto Service, Inc. McAdam Landscape Professionals Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore James Taglia CPA The Printing Store Archery Custom Shop, Inc.

The CROP Team wishes to acknowledge and thank

Growing Community Media, NFP/Wednesday Journal

for their many years of outstanding generosity and continual community support!

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

Antiquated facilities inhibit equity

I applaud new OPRF Athletic Director Nicole Ebsen’s review of athletics resources and spaces, and her commitment to ensure a more equitable use of spaces in the future. The perception of female athletes and coaches has been that practice times and spaces have not been fairly shared between men’s and women’s sports teams. AD Ebsen brings a new perspective and refreshing candor to the job. She will be an impactful leader. In truth, though, allocating athletics spaces at OPRF is a far more difficult job than it should be because the spaces themselves do not meet the needs of students, teams, and classes in the 21st century. The field house is an especially glaring example. Despite its enormous footprint and horrendously expensive maintenance costs, it no longer serves any activity or team well. One might assume the field house met the needs of the indoor track team, a no-cut sport with a large number of students. But the track itself is too short and too square for safe running or competition. When a wrestling meet or other competition conflicts, the indoor track team either cannot practice, or runs in unsafe traffic-jam conditions. The stands are unsafe and are not ADA compliant. The field house bathrooms are all but unusable. From the outside, the field house is still a magnificent old building. But on the inside — the important part, the place where students are just trying to learn and be the best athletes they can be — the field house is decades past its useful life. It actively inhibits student success. Ebsen’s allocation of practice spaces is no easier in the other gyms, weight room, locker facilities, multipurpose rooms, and outdoor fields, because few of these are configured for modern needs. While that’s not surprising for 100-year-old facilities, it’s disappointing for a high school and a community that proudly believes in “those things that are best.” OPRF’s athletic director wants to help all athletes. I hope the District 200 school board will do the right thing, and vote to create modern, safe, and equitable PE and athletics spaces for all.

Tim Brandhorst

River Forest

V I E W P O I N T S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Project 1, impressive; Project 2, badly needed I took advantage of the May 9 open house at OPRF High School to tour the finished results of the Imagine OPRF Project 1 facilities, and I must say I am very impressed. The Welcome Center, Special Education Classroom, Student Common, Student Resource Center: Library and Makerspace and Tutoring Center, Learning Stairs, Student Balcony and South Cafeteria are all absolutely outstanding. There were students located at each area on the tour to describe the space and also answer questions, and I had several. As a person who does not have children or grandchildren at the school, it was very informative to see my tax dollars well spent. Through my volunteer work with the Viet-

nam Veterans of America, I have had occasion to visit multiple area high schools, including Maine West, Elk Grove, John Hersey, Rolling Meadows, Ridgewood, Glenbrook North, and Oak Forest, and none of these schools can match the facilities I saw during my tour on May 9. Oak Park should be very proud of Imagine OPRF Project 1. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of the last stop on the tour, which was the 1 East Gym; the renovation of which is to be included in Imagine OPRF Project 2. As a graduate of OPRF (Class of 1963), I was disappointed to see that the gyms and the pools are exactly the way they were when I was in school 59 years ago: outdated and barely functional. I

Farmers Market is back

Saturday, May 21 is the first day of the 2022 Oak Park Farmers Market season. It is also the first of two Go Green Days. Various Oak Park/River Forest green organizations will have tables and friendly folks who can answer your questions about using less plastic, getting your home signed up for community solar and much more. Please stop by and say hello. And on your way to the market, grab your favorite sturdy reusable shopping bag, reusable bags for produce, and containers for more delicate fruit and veg-

etables (it’s almost raspberry season!). Every bag or container you bring is one less plastic item out in the world. Please thank the market vendors that use paper or compostable bags, which you won’t need, of course. You could also suggest to vendors still using plastic that they consider shifting to more sustainable packaging. In the words of Marshall Field: “Give the customers what they want.” Enjoy the market and all it offers.

Alan Krause

Oak Park

Progressives owe Scaman an apology

except if they choose to turn left on yellow, so we hit the gas. We support policies that protect the rights of marginalized groups, while blocking the intersection at Harlem and Randolph. We wear our masks to protect others and then pull them down while we curse loudly when the left turn traffic bleeds into the main lanes. In Oak Park, green energy is a priority, so we get road rage in our eco-friendly vehicles. Our “coexist” signs are there to remind residents that every human can live peacefully together, as long as they are going 15 over the speed limit. Some put signs in their lawns telling us to drive like our kids live here, but that’s silly, because our kids do live here. We nailed one outside of the middle school last Monday.

Several Wednesday Journals ago, there was a report on Village President Vicki Scaman issuing an apology for comparing the history of police oppression and violence upon the Black community with women’s history of oppression and violence afflicted upon them by men. Both, she asserted, were “inevitable.” Oak Park progressives were apparently outraged by her conclusion there was any similarity between the two issues. Now Ms. Scaman has signed on to formally protesting the leaked SCOTUS opinion that appears to portend the gutting of Roe v. Wade. Red states (and their male-dominated legislatures) are now licking their chops at the prospect of criminalizing contraceptives, abortions, or the very attempt to seek an abortion, or being a party to a woman seeking such, right up to imprisonment if a woman has a miscarriage! Hate is hate and it transcends race, gender, ethnicity or religion, and all the more chillingly so when it is carried out by any form of governance. But maybe Oak Park progressives can explain how my comparison is invidious. In light of the SCOTUS attack on woman, I think the progressives owe Vicky Scaman an apology. But Vicky can rationalize these things any way she wants. She’s a pragmatic politician for sure. For better or worse.

Oak Park

Jen Packheiser

Go Plastic Free group

Drivers, practice what we preach Oak Park is one of the most open and welcoming communities until you’re behind the wheel. Here in Oak Park, we like to put peace sign bumper stickers on our cars and then nearly hit pedestrians with them. We put equal signs on our vehicles to remind others that love is love, and every human deserves to be treated with respect unless they are in the middle of the crosswalk. We’ve had peaceful protests to address the deep-seated systemic inequities within our community. Empathy is something we teach our children in school so they can leave the world better than they found it, except if they are still in the street when the light changes. We remember that during these uncertain times, we are all in this together, but don’t stop for too long at the stop sign, idiot. We believe in a woman’s right to choose,

was shown the female gym teacher’s locker room, which is about the size of a Starbucks ADA-accessible toilet, only the locker room is shared by 10 women. This is the best we can offer our District 200 employees? The PE teachers’ offices are a cramped joke. None of the gyms I was shown are functionally useful. The problems with the pools are well known and well discussed. I look forward to the completion of Imagine OPRF Project 2 and I hope when finished it is just as spectacular as Project 1. I urge everyone to support OPRF Project 2.

Terry Tomlinson

Joe Harrington

O B I T U A R I E S

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Craig Thompson, 71 Building engineer, Euclid Ave. Methodist Church

Craig George Thompson, 71, died suddenly but peacefully in his sleep, at home in Oak Park on May 2, 2022. He served as building engineer at Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church in Oak Park and was devoted to that congregation, including to its minister and his dear friend, Rev. Marti Scott. With steadfast dedication, he managed the maintenance and improvement of the church buildings and grounds with skill, and was central to the church’s work of serving others, protecting the Earth, and loving God. Following in the footsteps of his father, he was an excellent athlete, playing baseball and football as a youth. A graduate of Oak Park and River Forest High School, he served honorably in the U.S. Army in the mid-1970s, stationed in Germany for several years. Before finding Euclid Avenue United Methodist, he was a go-to resource

around Oak Park for anyone in need of household or business maintenance. His facility with language helped him land on the name “Home Work” for his operation. He enjoyed tinkering with cars with his pals at the Oak Park Auto Repair shop. He was an avid reader of military history; a committed, but awful golfer; and a lifelong sufferer, rooting for the Chicago Bears and White Sox. The fifth child of 10 born to Joan (nee Horan) and Donald Thompson of Oak Park, Craig is survived by eight of his siblings and their spouses, Susan (Robert) Drane, Nancy Jackson, the late Donald (Nadine) Thompson, Michael (Mary Ann) Thompson, Mary Thompson, Patricia (John) Harvey, Dennis Thompson, James Thompson (Diane Kelley), and Joan (the late John) Backes. Other survivors include 13 nieces and nephews, and 18 great-nieces and great-nephews, including the family of his nephew, Tim Drane (Heidi, and children Quentin, Greta, and Natalie). A service celebrating the life of Craig Thompson will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, at Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church, 405 S. Euclid Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302. Visitation with the family starts at 10:30 a.m. at the church. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Craig’s memory to the Craig Thompson Memorial Fund at Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church. Arrangements were handled by Peter B. Kennedy & Co., Funeral Directors.

JOURNAL 3117 S Oak Park Ave, 3117 S Oak Park Ave, Berwyn, IL 60402 Berwyn, IL 60402 (708) 788- 7775 (708) 788- 7775

Donald F. Pickard, 86, of Oak Park, died peacefully at home with family by his side on May 2, 2022. Born in Rushville, Illinois on Nov. 25, 1935. The younger of two brothers, he grew up in Littleton, where his family owned and operated Pickard & Son, Groceries. He attended Knox College in Galesburg, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, served in the ROTC, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. While at Knox he met his first wife, Joan. Following graduation in 1957 the couple married and moved to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he completed his basic training in the U.S. Airborne, Infantry Officer’s Basic Course. He rose to the rank of First Lieutenant and served until 1959 when he went to work in Chicago with Illinois Bell Telephone Company, where he held many positions. A master of public relations and speech writing, his gift for words was instrumental during the break-up of the Bell System in the early 1980s. He eventually became assistant vice president with Ameritech and retired in 1990. A great believer in the arts, he served on the board of Chicago’s Auditorium

Theater during the 1980s and was an active member of Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church for over 50 years, where he served as a deacon, as well as an elder. Following the death of his first wife, Joan, he was blessed with meeting his wife, Roylene. They were married in 1983 and were devoted to each other for 40 years. He loved fishing, swimming in his backyard pool, telling bad jokes, and his beloved Knox College. He loved time spent with family and always had a prized piece of advice, a good story to tell and a dry sense of humor. Don was the father of Sharon (Gary) Evans and Karen (Kent) Bromley; stepfather of Steven Murray, Cari Kremer (Doug) and Debora Panza; grandpa to 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother, Jack (Janice) Pickard, and seven nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his late wife, Joan Pickard (nee Christiansen); his parents, Francis L. and Muriel Pickard (nee Little) and his stepson, H. James “Jimmy” Murray III. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 27 at Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church, 744 Fair Oaks Ave., Oak Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Angelman Syndrome Foundation (www.angelman.org) or National Multiple Sclerosis Society (www.nationalmssociety.org). Funeral arrangements were handled by Peterson-Bassi Chapels.

Please contact Ken Trainor by e-mail: ktrainor@wjinc.com, or fax: 708/524-0447 before Monday at noon. Please include a photo if possible.

of Oak Park and River Forest

Kevin Kopicki Kevin Kopicki

Donald Pickard, 86

Robert P. Gamboney Eric Kopicki Eric Kopicki

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Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

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Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

Growing Community Media

HELP WANTED

Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m.

3. Assist with any equipment repairs for the Park District. This includes but not limited to vehicles, tractors, any facility, or program equipment. 4 Assist the recreation department in set up, construction, and repair of all special event props.

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 | BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

Qualiﬁcations: 21 years of age. A valid Illinois State Driver License (Class A). In good physical condition with sufﬁcient strength to lift and hold 50 pounds.

HOURS: 9:00 A.M.– 5:00 P.M. MON–FRI

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED • NETWORK SPECIALIST Class specifications are intended to present a descriptive list of the range of duties performed by employees in the class. Specifications are not intended to reflect all duties performed within the job. DEFINITION To perform various network/system administration, computer support, and operational activities for the Village including computer system setup, configuration, and testing. SUPERVISION RECEIVED AND EXERCISED Reports directly to the Information Technology Services Director. EXAMPLE OF DUTIES: Essential and other important duties and responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, the following: Essential duties and responsibilities 1. Ensure that best in class customer service is provided to both internal and external customers and also embrace, support, and promote the Village’s core values, beliefs and culture. 2. Configure, test, and deploy network systems, such as, firewalls, routers, switches, wireless equipment, network servers and storage arrays. 3. Configure, test, and deploy system servers, such as, file, print, Internet, e-mail, database, and application servers. 4. Configure, test, and monitor server and end-user systems for security, such as, user accounts, login scripts, file access privileges, and group policy management. 5. Configure, test, and deploy end-user systems, such as, workstations, laptops, mobile devices, printers, and software. 6. Test, configure, deploy, and support security systems, such as, facility access system, video & audio system. 7. Monitor and auditing of networks, systems, and user activities to ensure security and efficiency of systems. Create scripts and reports of detail activities for regular review. 8. Perform and participate in disaster recovery activities, such as, backup procedures, data recovery, and system recovery planning. 9. Assist end-users with computer problems or queries. Troubleshoot systems as needed and meet with users to analyze specific system needs. 10. Ensure the uniformity, reliability and security of system resources including network, hardware,

software and other forms of systems and data. 11. Prepare, create and update user/technical procedure documentations and provide computer training. 12. Assemble, test, and install network, telecommunication and data equipment and cabling. 13. Participate in research and recommendation of technology solutions. Other important responsibilities and duties 1. Train users in the area of existing, new or modified computer systems and procedures. 2. Participate in the preparation of various activity reports. 3. Travel and support remote facilities and partner agencies. 4. Operate, administer and manage the Village and Public Safety computer systems, including E-911 center, in-vehicle computer systems. 5. Prepare clear and logical reports and program documentation of procedures, processes, and configurations. 6. Complete projects on a timely and efficient manner. 7. Communicate effectively both orally and in writing. 8. Establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work. 9. Perform related duties and responsibilities as required. QUALIFICATIONS Knowledge of: Principals and procedures of computer systems, such as, data communication, hierarchical structure, backups, testing and critical analysis. Hardware and software configuration of. computers, servers and mobile devices, including computing environment of Windows Server and Desktop OS and applications, Unix/Linux OS, VMware, iOS/Android. Network protocols, security, configuration and administration, including firewalls, routers, switches and wireless technology. Cabling and wiring, including CAT5/6, fiber network, telephone, serial communication, termination, and punch-down. Telecommunications theory and technology, including VoiP, serial communication, wireless protocols, PBX, analog, fax, voicemail and auto-attendant. Principles and methods of computer programming, coding and testing, including power shell, command scripting, macros, and

VB scripts. Modern office procedures, methods and computer equipment. Technical writing, office productivity tools and database packages. Ability to: Maintain physical condition appropriate to the performance of assigned duties and responsibilities, which may include the following: - Walking, standing or sitting for extended periods of time - Operating assigned equipment - Lift 50 pounds of equipment, supplies, and materials without assistance - Working in and around computer equipped vehicles Maintain effective audio-visual discrimination and perception needed for: - Making observations - Communicating with others - Reading and writing - Operating assigned equipment and vehicles Maintain mental capacity allowing for effective interaction and communication with others. Maintain reasonable and predictable attendance. Work overtime as operations require. Experience and Training Guidelines Experience: Three years of network/system administration in the public or private sector, maintaining a minimum of 75 Client Workstation computers. AND Training: Possession of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in computer science or a related field. Certifications in Microsoft Server Administration, Networking, Applications and Cisco Networking. Possession of a valid Illinois Driver License is required at the time of appointment. Vaccination against COVID-19 strongly preferred. WORKING CONDITIONS Work in a computer environment; sustained posture in a seated position for prolonged periods of time; continuous exposure to computer screens; work in and around computerized vehicles outdoor and garage facility; lifting heavy equipment, communication cabling and wiring into walls and ceilings.

RIVER FOREST PARK DISTRICT PARK SPECIALIST Starting Salary Range: $17.50 $20.38/HR plus full beneﬁts Working Hours: The Park Specialist is a full time non-exempt position working 40 hours per week, plus overtime. The scheduled work hours for this position are Monday – Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM, including ½ hour unpaid lunch. Hours may be shifted occasionally to accommodate speciﬁc tasks. Summary: The Park Specialist is responsible for assisting the Director of Parks with the maintenance operations of the Park District grounds, facilities, and equipment. The work includes, but not limited to: 1. Landscape maintenance opera-

tions for the Park District. This includes but not limited to: a. Turf maintenance: Mowing, irrigation, fertilizing, seeding, weed control, and trash removal. b. Athletic field maintenance: Baseball diamond infields, soccer fields, football fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, and installation and maintenance of necessary apparatus of each field use. c. Landscape maintenance: Soil grading and preparation, tree planting, tree trimming, tree spraying, tree watering, mulch bed maintenance, and flower bed maintenance. d. Construction: Installation of park/ playground equipment, park benches, park signage, retaining walls, and drainage systems. 2. Assist with the custodial maintenance of all Park District facilities.

Interested candidates shall submit an application in person or by email: John Beto, Director of Parks 401 Thatcher Avenue River Forest, Illinois 60305 708-366-6660x103 jbeto@rfparks.com

PARKS DISTRICT OF OAK PARK PRINCIPAL COACH & PROGRAM SPECIALIST

The Park District of Oak Park is hiring a Full-time Principal Coach & Program Specialist with a starting pay of $20.46 hourly to view the full job description and apply online please click the following link: https://www. paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.php/ jobs/ViewJobDetails?job=41011&c l i e n t k e y = 4 1 D 8 3 0 0 1 8 4 9 0 6 11 7 978771C10E755DC6

Growing Community Media NFP • Business Manager

We are hiring a part-time business manager to oversee the ﬁnancial and business operations of our busy community publishing nonproﬁt.

Essential leadership position which offers flexible hours (25 per week), a hybrid of in-office and work from home options, and a salary in the mid-$40s. Our long-time business manager is departing after seven years to take a full-time position elsewhere. • Payroll and benefits Among the key roles for our business manager are: • Payment processing for donors, • QuickBooks proficiency

- General ledger, invoicing, month end

• Budgeting

• AR and AP management

advertisers and subscriptions

• Audit preparation

• Preferred hire will have nonproﬁt ﬁnance management experience.

Bonus points for being a notary! Send resumes to Dan Haley, CEO, Growing Community Media dhaley@wjinc.com

River Forest Public Schools District 90

Student Support Services - Vacancies for the 2022-2023 School Year District 90 is seeking qualified and experienced student support educators for the following positions: • School Social Worker - Grades 5th - 8th • School Social Worker - Grades PreK-4th • Special Education Support Teacher - Grades PreK-4th • School Psychologist/Facilitator - Grades PreK-4th For detailed qualifications requirements and job duties, please visit our website at https://www.district90.org/ about/employment for our complete list of employment opportunities. Qualifications: Valid Illinois Professional Education License with endorsement in field of study, a Master’s Degree is preferred and successful teaching experience with students in a classroom setting is preferred.

General Duties: Provide excellence in education by developing and implementing activities that encourage students to be life-long learners. Possesses knowledge of District policies and regulations relating to areas of responsibilities. Create an environment that is conducive to learning and appropriate to the developmental maturity and interests of each student. Application: Apply online at www.district90.org. Application Procedure: Interested candidates should complete the online application available at district90. org. Please do not send hard copies of supporting documentation, i.e. cover letters, resumes, licensure, etc. to River Forest Schools District 90; instead, upload these materials onto the online job application system for proper processing.

Starting a New Business? Publish Your Assumed Name Legal Notice in • Austin Weekly News • Wednesday Journal

• Forest Park Review • Riverside/Brookfield Landmark Call the Experts Before You Place Your Legal Ad! Call Stacy for details: 773/626-6332

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INTERN

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualiﬁed candidates for the position of Environmental Health Intern in the Health Department. This full-time seasonal position will provide assistance to the Environmental Health Practitioners in the inspection and local businesses, homes and other establishments to enforce state and local laws and ordinances related to public Health safety; to respond and resolve citizen complaints regarding nuisances and reported epidemics. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http:// www.oak-park.us/jobs.

BUSINESS LICENSE OFFICER

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualiﬁed candidates for the position of Business License Ofﬁcer in the Development Customer Service Department. This person will perform a variety of technical duties in the processing and approval of business licenses and permits; and provide assistance and support to the Department. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. First review of applications will be May 9, 2022.

ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Animal Control Officer in the Health Department. This position will perform a variety of duties involved in enforcing Village ordinances governing the care and keeping of animals in the Village; and to impound, care for and assist with redemption of animals as appropriate. Applicants are encouraged to apply using the following link: https://secure.entertimeonline.com/ta/6141780.careers?ApplyToJob=218333253. For additional information on the position please visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. This position is open until filled.

UTILITY (WATER) BILLING CLERK

The Village of Forest Park seeks candidates for the union position of Full-Time Administration Utility Billing Clerk. Experience with data entry, customer service, administrative assistant skills, bookkeeping or accounting is highly desired. Must be flexible with work assignments and comfortable working with numbers and the public. Other qualifications include computer skills, the ability to meet deadlines, good knowledge of English language, general office skills, including handling of nonemergency calls and walk-up customer service, and good verbal and written skills. Starting salary $32,487 annually. Generous Benefits Package, IMRF Pension and 10 Paid Holidays. Open until filled. Eligible candidates will be required to pass pre-employment ability testing and an extensive background check. Applications are available at Village Hall, 517 Desplaines Ave. or at www.forestpark.net and should be returned Attn: Vanessa Moritz, Village Clerk, Village of Forest Park, 517 Des Plaines Avenue, Forest Park, IL 60130. Email: vmoritz@ forestpark.net .

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

CLASSIFIED BUDGET AND REVENUE ANALYST

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Budget and Revenue Analyst in the Development Customer Service Department. This position will Serve the public with professional administrative and analytical duties in the areas of budget preparation, purchasing, payroll, data analysis and process improvement. Provides, prepares and maintains records, and financial and statistical reports and analysis which assist in the Village’s ability to improve business processes and gain efficiencies through better use of technology. Budget duties include assisting in the development, analysis and application of performance measures with regard to Village services and resources; preparing, modifying, tracking and monitoring Village expenses and transfers; and conducting budget-related research and analysis. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oakpark.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

PARKING ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Parking Enforcement Officer in the Police Department Field Services Division. This position will perform a variety of duties and responsibilities involved in the enforcement of Village parking regulations; and to provide general information and assistance to the public. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

POLICE RECORDS CLERK

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualiﬁed candidates for the position of Police Records Clerk in the Police Department. This position will perform a wide variety of specialized clerical duties in support of the Police Department including processing and maintaining documents, correspondence and coding reports; and to provide information and assistance to the public. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs.

COVID-19 RESPONSE INTERN

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualiﬁed candidates for the position of COVID-19 Response Intern in the Health Department. This position will perform a variety of responsible and complex professional COVID-19 response support, as well as routine documentation of related tasks in support of the Emergency Preparedness & Response Coordinator. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http:// www.oak-park.us/. Interested and qualiﬁed applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

HELP WANTED COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualiﬁed candidates for the position of COVID-19 Response Coordinator in the Health Department. This position will perform a variety of responsible and complex professional COVID-19 response support, as well as routine documentation of related tasks in support of the Emergency Preparedness & Response Coordinator. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oak-park.us/. Interested and qualiﬁed applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application.

SEASONAL FARMERS’ MARKET ASSISTANT

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Seasonal Farmers’ Market Assistant in the Health Department. This position will provide administrative support to the Farmers’ Market Manager to allow growers and producers of food to sell directly to the public within established guidelines. This position requires work in inclement weather conditions; some heavy lifting of up to 50 pounds; walking or standing for sustained periods of time. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. Open until filled.

SANITARIAN

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualiﬁed candidates for the position of Sanitarian in the Health Department. This position will perform a variety of duties including education and enforcement activities for the promotion and protection of the public health environment. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website http://www.oakpark.us/jobs.

RESIDENTIAL LEASING AGENT – OAK PARK, IL

Oak Park Residence Corporation (OPRC) is seeking a capable Residential Leasing Agent to join our leasing team. You will present and lease our apartments to prospective tenants. The right candidate will be personable, ﬂexible, informative, and well versed in multi-family residential properties. Experience with YARDI a plus. OPRC is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We offer a highly competitive beneﬁt plan including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, 401(k) with employer contribution, FSA, EAP, paid holiday, vacation, sick leave, and PTO. For a complete position description please go to our website: https:// oakparkrc.com/about-us... or to apply send cover letter and resume to bswaggerty@oakparkrc.com



 

ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT WITH OPRC

Oak Park Residence Corporation (OPRC) is seeking an experienced Staff Accountant to join its accounting team. The successful candidate will have a minimum of 2 years experience in the accounting field with previous experience in accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger analysis, and budget preparation. This individual must also have excellent computer skills and be proficient in Microsoft Office and Excel. Experience in non-profit environment, property management accounting, and/or HUD experience and YARDI software considered a plus. For a complete job description please go to our website: Work for OPRC – OPRC (oakparkrc.com) or to apply send cover letter and resume to bswaggerty@oakparkrc.com. OPRC is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We offer a highly competitive benefit plan including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, 401(k) with employer contribution, FSA, EAP, paid holiday,vacation, sick leave, and PTO.

PUBLIC WORKS SUPERINTENDENT

VILLAGE OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS Riverside, IL (pop, 9,298) The Village of Riverside is a mature, historic community located 11 miles west of Chicago in Cook County. Riverside is primarily a residential community originally conceived and planned in 1869 as a model suburb by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Village operates under the President– Trustee form of government with an appointed Village Manager. The Public Works Superintendent is a challenging, stimulating position that is hired by and reports to the Director of Public Works. The Public Works Superintendent is primarily responsible for the operation of the water system. The Public Works Superintendent can expect to perform complex supervisory, administrative and professional work in planning, organizing, directing, and assisting with supervising the operations of the Department of Public Works. Positions supervised include clerical, administrative, maintenance and professional staff as assigned. The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate a combination of educational and relevant experience to fulfill the requirements of the position. The Public Works Superintendent must possess and maintain a Commercial Driver’s License and an ILEPA Certified Water Supply Operator certification of Class C or higher. Salary Range is $82,102.50 to $105,000. Send cover letter, resume, anticipated starting salary and five work related references to Ian Splitt, Village of Riverside, 27 Riverside, Riverside, IL, 60546 or email credentials to isplitt@riverside.il.us. First review of resumes will occur on May 18 th, 2022. The Village of Riverside is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

RENTALS

HOME CARE WORKER FOR SENIOR

Home care worker for senior in our Riverside home. Meal prep. Covid shots and boosters required. Call 708-567-6455.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE II

The Village of Oak Park is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Customer Service Representative II in the Development Customer Services Department. This position provides customer service to the public by providing a variety of responsible and difficult customer service and receptionist work including high volume telephone traffic; and to perform the more difficult and complex customer service duties depending on the department including but not limited to service requests, permits, parking passes, block party permits, accounts payable processing and vehicle stickers. This position is crosstrained with the other Customer Service Representative IIs in the Village. Applicants are encouraged to visit the Village of Oak Park’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/jobs. Interested and qualified applicants must complete a Village of Oak Park application. This position is posted until June 13, 2022.

PARKS DISTRICT OF OAK PARK EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

The Park District of Oak Park is hiring a Full-time Executive Assistant with a starting salary of $50,000 yearly with beneﬁts to view the full job description and apply online please click the following link: https://www. paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.php/ jobs/ViewJobDetails?job=57519& clientkey=41D8300184906117978 771C10E755DC6 Interior Designer (Chicago IL) manage dsgn process for multiple projects, understand blueprints & drawings, dsgn model units from conception to completion, dvlp & send special product requests to manufacturers, maintain up to date knowl of dsgn, trends, construction methodology, materials applications, sustainability, LEED guidelines & WELL bldg. Reqs Associate’s in Interior Dsgn, Architectural CAD Certificate, proﬁciency in SketchUp, Revit, Photoshop, Studio Designer & Excel, frequent travel to client locations throughout Chicago area. Resumes to A Johnson, Alissa Johnson Interiors Inc, 921 N Hoyne Ave, #3, Chicago, IL 60622.

SUBURBAN RENTALS DOWNTOWN OAK PARK 2BR APT

2BR, 1BTH apartment for rent. Hardwood ﬂoors. Renovated and freshly painted. Small, vintage building. No smoking. No pets. Parking included. 708-657-4226

STUDIOS, 1, 2 & 3 BR Best Selection & Service

OAK PARK & FOREST PARK

708-386-7355

MMpropMgmt.com

OAK PARK THERAPY OFFICES:

Therapy ofﬁces available on North Avenue. Parking; Flexible leasing; Nicely furnished; Waiting Room; Conference Room. Ideal for new practice or 2nd location. 708.383.0729 Call for an appt.

1 BEDROOM APT

Small 1 bdr apt in Forest Park. Water and heat included. No parking. Available May 1. $700/month. 708-227-7007

OFFICE/RETAIL FOR RENT RIVER FOREST–7777 Lake St. * 1116 sq. ft. * 1400 sq. ft. Dental Office RIVER FOREST–7756 Madison St. * 960 sq. ft. OAK PARK–6142-44 Roosevelt Rd. * 3 & 5 room office suites FOREST PARK–7736 Madison St. *2500 sq. ft. unit Strand & & Browne Strand Browne 708-488-0011 708-488-0011

WANTED TO RENT RENT WANTED TO Coach House/Guest House Wanted to Rent Contact George at 708-722-1111or gfunkpunk@gmail.com with info.

WANTED TO RENT Garage Wanted to Rent 2 car or Larger.

MARKETPLACE

GARAGE SALES Oak Park

GARAGE SALE 1145 S. SCOVILLE SAT MAY 21 9AM-2PM AND SUN MAY 22 9AM-1PM

Books, clothes (Men’s XL, Women’s M, Youth M-L), costumes, toys, household items, antique ﬁne China dish sets, vintage hats and more! Everything must go!

GARAGE SALES Oak Park

HUGE MOVING SALE 1126 S LOMBARD AVE SAT MAY 21 9AM-2PM SUN MAY 22 10AM-2PM

There will be two ﬂoors of things for sale. There will be furniture, paintings, 100s of ﬁne books, antiques, good clothes, 1,000s of baseball cards, old and new tools, china, tablecloths, pots, pans, golf clubs, and lots of collectables. Then on Sunday May 22 a close out sale will be held. For $20 you can take anything and everything you want. A couple will be charged $30.

WANTED TO BUY WANTED MILITARY ITEMS: Helmets, medals, patches, uniforms, weapons, ﬂags, photos, paperwork, Also toy soldiers – lead, plastic – other misc. toys. Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400

CARS WANTED

Contact George at 708-722-1111or gfunkpunk@gmail.com with info.



CLASSICS WANTED CLASSICS WANTED Restored or Unrestored

or Unrestored Cars &Restored Vintage Motorcycles Domestic / Cars & Vintage Motorcycles Import Cars: Mercedes, Porsche, Corvette,Cars: Ferrari’s, Domestic / Import Jaguars, Muscle Cars, Mustang & Mopars Mercedes, Porsche, Corvette, $$ Top $$ all makes, Etc.

Ferrari’s, James Jaguars,• 630-201-8122 Muscle Cars, Collector Mustang & Mopars

$$ Top $$ allWANTED makes, Etc. CLASSICS Collector James

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

CLASSIFIED CEMENT

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

CEMENT

MAGANA

C O N C R E T E C O N S T RU C T I O N “QUALITY IS OUR FOUNDATION” ESTABLISHED IN 1987

COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL RESIDENTIAL

708.442.7720 '5,9(:$<6 )281'$7,216 3$7,26 67(36 &85% *877(56 6,'(:$/.6 612: 3/2:,1* 67$03(' &2/25(' $**5(*$7( &21&5(7( FREE ESTIMATES LICENSED, BONDED & INSURED

HOME SERVICES

ELECTRICAL Ceiling Fans Installed

ELECTRICAL

A&A ELECTRIC

Let an American Veteran do your work

We install plugs for battery-operated vehicles We fix any electrical problem and do small jobs We install Surge Protectors • Home Re-wiring • New Plugs & Switches Added • New circuit breaker boxes • Code violations corrected Service upgrades,100-200 amp • Garage & A/C lines installed Fast Emergency Service | Residential • Commercial • Industrial Free Home Evaluations | Lic. • Bonded • Ins. • Low Rates • Free Est.

708-409-0988 • 708-738-3848 Sr. Discounts • 30 Yrs. Exp. Servicing Oak Park • All surrounding suburbs • Chicago area

CAREGIVER Caregiver for senior

Affordable price, excellent references. With a car. 24-hour live-in overnight or hourly come and go.

708-692-2580

HANDYMAN Mike’s Home Repair Drywall H Painting H Tile Plumbing H Electric H Floors Windows H Doors H Siding Ask Us What We Don’t Do

708-296-2060

HANDYMAN Roofing Repairs Concrete Repairs • Drywall All types of handiwork Call For Free Estimates

773-637-0692 Ask for John

CURT'S HANDYMAN SERVICE Drywall Repair • Painting Fans Installed • Carpentry Trim Gutter Cleaning • Window Repair

FLOORS

Free estimates Excellent References No Job Too Small

KLIS FLOORING INC.

708-488-9411

New hardwood ﬂooring installation & pergo. Sanding, re-ﬁnishing, staining. Low prices, insured. Call: 773-671-4996 • www.klisflooring.com

HAULING BASEMENT CLEANING

Appliances & Furniture Removal Pickup & Delivery. 708-848-9404

LANDSCAPING BRUCE LAWN SERVICE Spring Clean-Up Aerating, Slit Seeding Bush Trimming, Lawn Maintenance brucelawns.com

708-243-0571

FAST DELIVERY

Mulch & Topsoil

Premium Shredded Hardwood ��$28/yd Dyed Red ��$35/yd Dyed Brown ��$33/yd Playmat��$30/yd Premium Blend Dark �$38/yd Premium Bark Fines��$48/yd Blonde Cedar ��$54/yd • Spreading Available! •

PETS While you’re away, your pets are okay . . . at home

cat calls

Oak Park’s Original Pet Care Service – Since 1986

Daily dog exercising Complete pet care in your home )PVTF TJUUJOH t 1MBOU DBSF Bonded References

524-1030

Topsoil, Garden Mix, Mushroom, Super Mix, Compost, Gravel, Sand

SureGreenLandscape�com

847-888-9999 847-888-9999 •• 630-876-0111 630-876-0111

PAINTING & DECORATING CLASSIC PAINTING Fast & Neat Painting/Taping/ Plaster Repair Low Cost • 708.749.0011

S W NE LASH! F You can get local news delivered right to your email in-box. Sign up for FREE at OakPark.com

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

CLASSIFIED PUBLIC NOTICE On Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 11:00 am., Oak Park Elementary School District 97 will be conducting a “timely and meaningful consultation” meeting to discuss plans for providing special education services to students with disabilities who attend private/parochial schools and who are home schooled within the district for the 2022-2023 school year. The meeting will be held virtually through Zoom. The details are listed below. If you are a parent/guardian of a home-schooled student who has been or may be identiﬁed with a disability, and you reside within the boundaries of Oak Park Elementary School District 97, you are urged to attend. If you have further questions pertaining to this meeting, please contact District 97’s Department of Special Education at 708-524-3030. Join Zoom Meeting https://op97-org.zoom.us/ j/83861957687?pwd=eWdqVTJDMHdIV2IzSE95UHRtU3lKQT09 Meeting ID: 838 6195 7687 Passcode: 219686 One tap mobile +13126266799,,83861957687# (Chicago) +16465588656,,83861957687# (New York)

US US

Published in Wednesday Journal May 18, 25, 2022

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING Attention: Parents of Home-Schooled Students On Friday, May 27, 2022 at 11 am, Forest Park Schools District 91 will conduct a meeting via Zoom.us. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the district’s plans for providing special education services to students with disabilities who attend private schools and home schools within the district for the 2022-23 school year. If you are the parent of a homeschooled student who has been or may be identiﬁed with a disability and you reside within the boundaries of Forest Park Schools District 91, you are urged to attend. You can join the meeting by emailing Michelle Hopper at mhopper1@fpsd91.org for the Zoom link. If you have further questions pertaining to this meeting, please contact Michelle Hopper, Director of Special Education, at (708) 366-5742 or at mhopper1@fpsd91. org. Published in Forest Park Review May 18, 2022

BY PHONE: (708) 613-3333 BY FAX: (708) 467-9066 BY E-MAIL: EMAIL@GROWINGCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG

PUBLIC NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICE/PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE OF FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO REQUEST RELEASE OF FUNDS REQUEST FOR RELEASE OF FUNDS (RROF) On or about June 3, 2022 the Village of Oak Park (VOP) will request the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to release federal funds under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (PL 93-383), as amended, for various activities pursuant to the Program Year (PY) 2021 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program which runs from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. The following activities will take place within the Village of Oak Park, Illinois utilizing a total of $278,500 CDBG funds. 2 Infrastructure projects: 1-Village of Oak Park Public Works “Water & Sewers” project which includes replacing the failing combined sewer main and rebuilding the existing deteriorated roadway on Kenilworth from Lake St. to Ontario in which the West Side of Kenilworth is within the boundaries of a Low/Mod income area in Census Tract 8123.01, Block Group 2, and will be funded with $97,500 of returned PY2019 CDBG funds. The total project cost of $2,442,445 includes replacing sewers and roadways at two other locations outside of Low/Mod areas using local funds. 2-Village of Oak Park Public Works Streets & Sidewalks Ramps project which resurfaces the deteriorated roadway, improves crossings for pedestrians for safety concerns, replaces older street lights with new LED lighting, adds landscaped medians to slow traffic, and enhances the neighborhood with landscaping and deco-

rative elements on Forest from the alley North of Lake St to the North jog of Ontario, then on Ontario from Forest to Marion in which the West and East sides of Forest from the alley North of Lake St. and the West and East sides of Forest to the Jog, the West side of forest from the Jog to Ontario and the South side of Ontario from Forest to Marion are within the boundaries of a Low/Mod income area in Census Tract 8123.01, Block Group 2, and will be funded with $155,000 of returned PY2019 CDBG funds with a total project cost of $787,202. The proposed activities are categorically excluded under HUD regulations at 24 CFR Part 58 from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements but subject to review under other authorities listed in 24 CFR 58.5. An Environmental Review Record (ERR) that documents the environmental determination for these projects is on file at the Village of Oak Park, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302 and is available for public examination and copying weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST. The ERR is also available on the HUD Environmental Review Online System (HEROS) at: https://www.onecpd. info/environmental-review/environmental-review-records FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT (FONSI) The compliance factors were determined on each project’s site-specific location and no mitigation or compliance was required. The Village of Oak Park has determined that the project activities will have no significant im-

pact on the human environment. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 is not required. The Environmental Review Record (ERR) documenting the environmental determination for each activity is on file at the Village of Oak Park, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302 and is available for public examination and copying weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST. The ERR is also available on the HUD Environmental Review Online System (HEROS) at: https://www. onecpd.info/environmental-review/ environmental-review-records PUBLIC COMMENTS Any individual, group, or agency may submit written comments on the ERR to the Village of Oak Park, 123 Madison Street, Oak Park, IL 60302 or via: email at grants@oak-park.us All comments received by June 2, 2022 will be considered by the Village of Oak Park prior to authorizing submission of a request for release of funds. ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION – RELEASE OF FUNDS The Village of Oak Park certifies to HUD that Kevin Jackson, in his official capacity as Village Manager, and Tammie Grossman, in her official capacity as Development Customer Services Director, consent to accept the jurisdiction of the Federal courts if an action is brought to enforce responsibilities in relation to the environmental review process and that these responsibilities have been satisfied. HUD’s approval of the certification satisfies its responsibilities under

NEPA and related laws and authorities and allows the Village of Oak Park to use HUD program funds. OBJECTIONS TO RELEASE OF FUNDS HUD will accept objections to its release of funds and the Village of Oak Park’s certification for a period of fifteen (15) days following the anticipated submission date or its actual receipt of the request (whichever is later) only if they are on one of the following bases: (a) the certification was not executed by the Certifying Officer of the Village of Oak Park; (b) the Village of Oak Park has omitted a step or failed to make a decision or finding required by HUD regulations at 24 CFR part 58; (c) the grant recipient or other participants in the development process have committed funds, incurred costs or undertaken activities not authorized by 24 CFR Part 58 before approval of a release of funds by HUD; or (d) another Federal agency acting pursuant to 40 CFR Part 1504 has submitted a written finding that the project is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of environmental quality. Objections must be prepared and submitted in accordance with the required procedures (24 CFR Part 58, Sec. 58.76) and shall be addressed to HUD at CPD_COVID-19OEE-CHI@ hud.gov. Potential objectors should contact HUD to verify the actual last day of the objection period. Kevin Jackson, Village Manager, and Tammie Grossman, Development Customer Services Director, Certifying Officers

Published in Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

Starting a New Business?

PUBLIC NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICE The Village of Oak Park will receive sealed bids from qualified electrical contractors at the Public Works Center, 201 South Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time until 3:00 p.m. on Friday, May 27, 2022 for the following: Village of Oak Park North Meter Vault Electrical Upgrades Project Number: 22-120 Bid documents may be obtained from the Village’s website at http://www.oak-park.us/bid. For questions, please call Public Works at (708) 358-5700 during the above hours. Published in Wednesday Journal May 18, 2022

Let the sun shine in...

Public Notice: Your right to know In print • Online Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year • OakPark.com

Publish Your Assumed Name Legal Notice in • Austin Weekly News • Wednesday Journal • Forest Park Review • Riverside/Brookfield Landmark Call the Experts Before You Place Your Legal Ad! Call Stacy for details: 773/626-6332

• RBLandmark.com • ForestParkReview.com • AustinWeeklyNews.com PublicNoticeIllinois.com

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION THE HUNTINGTON NATIONAL BANK; Plaintiff, vs. HENRY KIRKE CUSHING AKA HENRY K. CUSHING; MARY K. O’GRADY AKA MARK K. O’GRADY AKA MARY KAY O’GRADY; MARQUERITE HOLDING; Defendants, 21 CH 5827 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-07-405-018-0000. Commonly known as 115 South Ridgeland Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60302. The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection. For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Manley Deas Kochalski, LLC, One East Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60601. (614) 220-5611. 21-002016 F2 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3194270

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discrimination. The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental or advertising of real estate based on factors in addition to those protected under federal law. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis. Restrictions or prohibitions of pets do not apply to service animals. To complain of discrimination, call HUD toll free at: 1-800-669-9777. GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA

Wednesday Journal, May 18, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

MAY IS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH WE ALL HAVE MENTAL HEALTH

Whether you are struggling with a temporary challenge or if you are living with a chronic condition, your mental health is just as important as your physical health.

50%

More than 50% of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime

Persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness

GROWING CRISIS AMONG YOUTH America’s youth mental health crisis has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

INCREASED

69%

between 2009 and 2021 for U.S. high school students Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE

The Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township (CMHB) and the River Forest Township Mental Health Committee invest in a continuum of mental health care that is responsive to our unique and evolving community needs. Together, we provided over $1.26M last year to help local organizations and schools offer prevention, early intervention, treatment, and quality-of-life services to Oak Park and River Forest residents. Our grants resulted in:

COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH BOARD OF OAK PARK TOWNSHIP

RIVER FOREST TOWNSHIP MENTAL HEALTH COMMITTEE

• Over 5,000 Oak Park residents accessing services

• Over 16,000 hours of services provided to River Forest residents

• Nearly 10,000 units of mental health treatment for Oak Park residents • Over 200 educational presentations on mental health to Oak Park residents • Over 1,000 Oak Park high school students trained in suicide prevention In fiscal year 2022, CMHB provided over $1.1M in funding for mental health, substance use, and intellectual/developmental disability services. To learn more about our work in this area, visit oakparktownship.org/CMHB.

• Over 100 hours of educational presentations on mental health to River Forest residents • Over 200 River Forest high school students trained in suicide prevention In fiscal year 2022, RFT provided over $160,000 in funding for mental health, substance use, and intellectual/developmental disability services. To learn more about our work in this area, visit www.riverforesttownship.org/mhservices.asp.

WRIGHTPLUS May 18, 2022

Family connections on Wright Plus

p. B10

2022 P R E V I E W

Property transfers

p. B12

W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL F O R E S T PA R K

REVIEW

The old neighborhood Wright Plus 2022 zooms in on the cradle of Prairie Style

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TRUST/JAMES CAULFIELD

By LACEY SIKORA

Contributing Reporter

his year’s Wright Plus housewalk takes place on Saturday, May 21, and the sold-out event features some old favorites as well as some new homes and newly discovered history. Wright Plus Co-Chair Sue Blaine says focusing the walk on the immediate neighborhood that Wright lived and worked in provides a lot of interesting context.

“You can look at Wright’s own home, which of course was built in three stages, and you see the evolution of his design as you go through the house,” Blaine said. “What’s fun about this year’s walk is seeing the built environment of his work. You can get a feel for what the environment looked like when Wright started working and how his work differed so much from what was being done at the time.”

Laura Gale House (Frank Lloyd Wright, 1909)

See WRIGHT PLUS on page B3

May 18, 2022 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

Sold! 315 Marengo Ave, #4G, Forest Park I love working with 1st-time home buyers! Deborah Wess | 708-212-1122 deborahsellsoakpark4u@gmail.com

Just Listed! 349 Park Ave, River Forest 3 BR, 1 BA, Finished top to bottom tri-level home on 44 x 181 lot +3-car garage, 2 patios and screened-in porch for entertaining................................ $495,000 Laurie Shapiro | 708-203-3614 Laurie.shapiro@cbrealty.com

Under Contract in 2 Days! 1006 S. Euclid, Oak Park 4 BR, 3 BA, Bright Brick Bungalow on a large lot! Spacious chef’s kitchen, separate living and dining room and a full bath on each ﬂoor. Fabulous, central location! Sandi Graves | 708-752-6540 sgraves@cbexchange.com

Coming Soon! 101 N Euclid, #3, Oak Park Centrally located 4 levels of updated living. Private garage, roof deck/ﬂex space on top! Lisa Andreoli and Meredith Conn 708-557-9546 or 708-743-6973 teamgo2girls@gmail.com

SOLD in a week! 534 Highland, Oak Park 3 BR, 2.1 BA Sold at 100% list price! $550,00 Patty Melgar Hooks | 708-261-2796 patty.melgarhooks@cbexchange.com

Under Contract! 247 Home Avenue, Oak Park 5 BR, 2 BA, Near it all! Beautiful Victorian with both original charm and desired updates. .................................... $729,000 Sara Faust | 708-772-7910 sara.faust@cbexchange.com

For Sale! 1020 Harlem 2F, River Forest 3 BR, 2 BA, Super spacious residence in premier RF condo building. Enjoy two parking spots in heated, underground garage, a private front balcony and lovely shared backyard. This one has it all!

Under Contract! 454 Iowa St, Oak Park 5 BR, 2.1 BA, This uncomparable piece of history has been thoughtfully updated. Screened porch, original inglenook & cottage-style garden add to the appeal.. ................................................... $925,000

Sue Canepa | 312-203-0848 suecanepahomes@gmail.com

Shea Kiessling | 708-710-5952 shea@cbexchange.com

Updates Happening Now! 632 Home Avenue, Oak Park 3 BR, 1.1 BA, Come see the new painting of the outside of home, along with new gutters! ...................................... $479,000

Coming Soon! 615 N. Ridgeland Avenue 4 BR, 1.1 BA, Move-in ready home with a sun-filled family room off the kitchen. Solar panels and a WB fireplace plus a deck overlooking a flower-filled yard. 2 car garage. ...................................... $550,000

Michelle Miller | 708-334-5833 michelle.miller@cbexchange.com

Coming Soon! 1036 N Kenilworth, Oak Park 4 BR, 3.1 BA, On the Boulevard! Large, light and airy colonial house. Gracious rooms, large yard. Welcome home! ....... ................................................... $889,000 Sara Faust | 708-772-7910 sara.faust@cbexchange.com

Stephanie Eiger | 708-557-0779 Stephanie.eiger@cbexchange.com

Under Contract! Sweet Arts District Bungalow. Some features are a primary suite, newer large kitchen, sunny enclosed front porch and great vintage details! .......$389,900 708-243-0330 jlangley.realtor@gmail.com

COLDWELLBANKERHOMES.COM

Oak Park 114 N. Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park | 708.524.1100

The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2022 Coldwell Banker Realty. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Realty fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Realty LLC.

B2 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ May 18, 2022

W R I G H T

P L U S

P R E V I E W

WRIGHT PLUS from page B1 This year’s homes include eight private residences in Oak Park on Kenilworth and Forest avenues as well as Elizabeth Court, which runs between the two. Blaine says three homes -- the Hayden, Kennedy and Humphrey homes -- are all some of the more historic homes on the walk that are good examples of design that was common during the period they were built. The Simon and Elizabeth Humphrey House 2 was built in 1887. Its architect is unknown. The threestory Queen Anne style home has an interior with many original wood details and decorative moldings. Until this year, the home was known as the Reed House, but Wright Plus researchers determined that the Reed family rented the home and that the original owners were the Simon and Elizabeth Humphrey, for whom Elizabeth Court was named. The David and Carolyn Kennedy House, designed by Patton & Fisher in 1888, is a grand-scale Queen Anne home with a gable roof and wide front porch. When it was built, the home occupied a large lot on the corner of Kenilworth and Elizabeth Court. Over time, parcels of land were sold off to form 9 and 11 Elizabeth Ct. as well as a parcel to the north of the house. In 1939, the homeowner defaulted on the mortgage, and the coach house was separated from the main house and became an independent property. The David and Carolyn Kennedy/Charles and Besse Boynton Coach House was designed by Patton & Fisher in 1893 for the original owners of the See WRIGHT PLUS on page B5

Simon and Elizabeth Humphrey House 2 (Unknown architect, 1887)

David and Carolyn Kennedy House (Patton & Fisher, 1888)

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TRUST/JAMES CAULFIELD

David and Carolyn Kennedy Coach House (Patton & Fisher, 1888) May 18, 2022 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

553 THATCHER AVENUE, RIVER FOREST

553THATCHER.INFO

7980 CHICAGO AVENUE, RIVER FOREST

7980CHICAGOAVENUE.INFO

Magnificent David A Thatcher home. Built in 1883 as a Queen Anne Victorian,

This remarkable corner lot has so much to love – wrought iron fencing,

then transformed into a Colonial Revival in 1920. $1,500,000

large brick driveway, and impressive yards.

BRIAN BEHAN

ELIZABETH AUGUST

•

3 1 2 . 4 8 0.1 24 4

•

b b @ a t p ro p e r t i e s .co m

•

773.610.8000

•

$1,400,000 elizabethaugust@atproperties.com

1011 SOUTH BOULEVARD

139 S GROVE AVENUE, OAK PARK

139SGROVE.INFO

846 N KENILWORTH AVENUE, OAK PARK

847NKENILWORTHAVENUE.INFO

This majestic Victorian home commands your attention with its impressive

Classic Oak Park brick 4 bedroom, 2.1 bath home located in Mann School

wrap around porch and grand entrance. $1,179,000

District.

TONY & KATHY IWERSEN

•

708.772.8040

•

tonyiwersen@atproperties.com

$699,000 •

708.772.8040

•

tonyiwersen@atproperties.com

Stop looking, start finding® atproperties.com

B4 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ May 18, 2022

W R I G H T

P L U S

P R E V I E W

Are you a Seller looking for the Right Buyer? Or a Buyer looking for the House that’s Right for you? Or maybe you want a Wright House? Call Patti Sprafka Wagner! SOLD

Oak Park

UNDER CONTRACT

Oak Park

UNDER CONTRACT

Oak Park

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TRUST/JAMES CAULFIELD

John and Elsie Vette House (William G. Barfield, 1905)

WRIGHT PLUS from page B3 Kennedy House. It is likely that the coach house was originally planned as a stable and later morphed into a garage with an apartment on the second floor. The Boyntons are honored in the name of the structure because they are the owners who converted the structure into a single-family home. The James and Helen Hayden House was designed by William K. Johnston in 1893. The Queen Anne-style home has a unique exterior of brick, cedar shingles and limestone. The local landmark is significant as it is the only major known work of architect William K. Johnston in Oak Park and because it differs architecturally from its neighbors in the variety of materials used, its asymmetrical massing and avoidance of flat wall surfaces. The John and Elsie Vette House was designed by architect William Barfield in 1905. The Prairie Style residence has a brick base with stucco above. The twostory home features a side-entry porch, hip roof and brick chimneys. The Edward and Mary Hills/Thomas and Irene DeCaro House, remodeled by

Wright in 1906, is a Japanese-influenced, Prairie Style home. When built for William Gray in 1883, the home was a Stick-style Victorian home. In 1900, neighbor Nathan Moore purchased the home as a wedding gift for his daughter, Mary, upon her marriage to Edward Hills, and he eventually brought in Wright to remodel the home. The home was altered significantly throughout its history. Tom and Irene DeCaro purchased the home in 1975 and began a restoration that was halted when a fire devastated the home. The DeCaros then restored the house, relying in part on Wright’s blueprints from his earlier remodel. The William and Frances Copeland House was remodeled by Wright in 1909. Built in 1873 for William Harman, an unknown architect designed the Italianate style home on Forest Avenue. Wright remodeled the interior to reflect the Prairie Style for the surgeon Copeland, renovating much of the main floor and designing dining room furniture for the family as well. The Laura Gale House, designed by Wright in 1909 on Elizabeth Court is the third house Wright designed for the Gales, after two houses he designed for them on Chicago Avenue.

SOLD

Stunning 4 BR, 2.1 BA Prairie Style with Roman fireplace, natural woodwork, stained glass windows, hardwood floors and tons of character. Remodeled baths, first floor Family Room, eat-in Kitchen and huge Office!.......................$895,000

Exceptional 5 BR, 2.1 BA Victorian with Prairie Style influence. Brick fireplace, built-in buffet & armoire and hardwood floors. Fantastic white cabinet, island Kitchen opens up to the Family Room & sliders lead out to the Deck .................................... $1,050,000

Perfect center of town location for this 3-Story townhouse with private Deck. Island Kitchen with outstanding Pantry & balcony, luxurious master suite, Family Room, attached 2-car garage, and dual heat and c/a. Just move in! ........... $675,000

Forest Park Darling 3+ BR, 3 BA Bungalow Sun Rm off the Living Rm, Kitchen will Breakfast Nook, Loft, Sauna, Hot Tub, hardwood floors, Gorgeous new gas fireplace flanked by bookcases, new Mud Rm with heated floor & custom built-ins ...... $500,000

Chicago Magazine 5 Star Agent Legend (10 years running) Patti Sprafka Wagner Contact me 708-218-8102, 1pswagner@gmail.com, for a Market Evaluation of your property - You’ll ﬁnd I’m a proven leader in the local market.

See WRIGHT PLUS on page B6

May 18, 2022 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

W R I G H T

P L U S

P R E V I E W

Oak Park

Fantastic opportunity to own this beautiful large condo in the heart of downtown Oak Park 2 BR, 2 BA ........................................................................................................................$199,000 Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TRUST/JAMES CAULFIELD

James and Helen Hayden House (William K. Johnston, 1893)

WRIGHT PLUS from page B5 This Prairie Style home is unique among Wright’s Oak Park works for its extreme rectilinear shapes and masses. Blaine says it’s as if Wright were saying with this house, “I’m almost done with the Prairie Style. Look what we can do here.” All eight houses have been extensively researched by Wright Plus volunteers, many of whom are experts in their fields. “Our researchers really dig in and find more information and things about prior owners,” said Wright Plus Co-Chair Vicki

Kwarciany. “It’s such a gift to our homeowners, even those who have been on the walk before. The researchers are always finding new things.” Blaine says those histories are a big draw for Wright Plus. “You can talk about the architecture- and we do have fabulous architecture,” Blaine said. “And you can talk about building materials, but otherwise, guests really like to hear about the people who built and remodeled these houses and how they lived.” Wright Plus, says Blaine, allows guests “to really imagine what happened here and why people called these places home. The walk shows us what makes a fabulous house a home.”

Oak Park

Magnificent Victorian with amazing architectural details and modern amenities. 5 BR, 2.1 BA .....................................................................................................................$680,000 Steve Scheuring • 708-369-8043

Want to see your listings in Distinctive Properties? Contact Marc Stopeck at 708.613.3330 or marc@oakpark.com

B6 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ May 18, 2022

Wright Plus 2022 is sold out Tickets to the Wright Plus 2022 housewalk sold out a few weeks before the walk, marking a triumphant return for the venerable housewalk after two years of pandemic upheaval. In addition, the Ultimate Plus Weekend package which includes fast pass tickets to the walk, hotel accommodations, a Friday Wright tour, and an ex-

clusive dinner in a Frank Lloyd Wright home for $2,675 is also sold out. Ultimate Saturday tickets which include fast pass tickets to the walk, a luncheon and an exclusively Wright dinner for $1,375 are also sold out. The date has been set for May 20, 2023 for the next Wright Plus, and ticket sales will likely commence in early 2023.

189 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 (708) 386-1400

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May 18, 2022 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

CELEBRATING THE annual WRIGHT PLUS WALK!

Defining the art of selling real estate.

6 Elizabeth Ct., Oak Park

222 Gale Ave., River Forest

427 N Grove Ave., Oak Park

435 William, 709, River Forest

230 S. Euclid Ave., Oak Park

339 Forest Ave., River Forest

306 Keystone Ave., River Forest

Looking for your own architectural GEM? 550 Forest Ave., Oak Park 622 N Lombard Ave., Oak Park 719 Forest Ave., Oak Park We have one for you! 1323 Jackson Avenue in River Forest

70 X 188 Landscaped Lot Outdoor Kitchen with Pizza Oven 4 Bedrooms 4.1 Bathrooms Family room & Finished 3rd floor.

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BUYING OR SELLING? PUT THE POWER OF THE GPS TEAM TOILWORK FOR YOU. 1011 South Boulevard | Oak Park, IL 60302 1011 South Boulevard | Oak Park, 60302 office 708.366.0400 GPS@atproperties Greer Haseman, Broker 708-606-8896 cell | 708-366-0200 ofﬁce greer@atproperties.com

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B8 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ May 18, 2022

Call us to help you find your architectural gem!

sold!

228 Forest Ave., Oak Park

323 S. Grove Ave., Oak Park

1019 Erie St., Oak Park

sold!

under contract!

209 S Euclid Ave., Oak Park

122 Gale Ave., River Forest

1015 N. Grove Ave., River Forest

atproperties.com May 18, 2022 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

W R I G H T

P L U S

P R E V I E W

Family connections on Wright Plus Research reveals close-knit history of Forest Avenue neighborhood

By LACEY SIKORA Contributing Reporter

Wright Plus Co-Chair Sue Blaine says that one of the fun things about this year’s walk is how interconnected the homes and their early owners were to each other. Oak Park was a smaller town in the late 1800s and early 1900s when these homes were constructed, and many of the early owners had familial or other connections to their neighbors. Quite a few of the homes in the neighborhood were built as dowry gifts. The Vette House was built as a wedding gift for Elsie Vette, daughter of Susan Beachy, whose home down the street was a Frank Lloyd Wright remodel. The Hills-DeCaro House was originally commissioned in 1883 for William Gray. The home was later purchased by Nathan Moore who owned the house to the north. Moore hired Wright to remodel the home for his daughter who married Harry Hills. Wright also designed Nathan Moore’s own home, which faces the Hills-DeCaro House across a broad lawn on Forest Avenue “The number of dowry houses here is astounding,” Blaine said. A past feature on Wright Plus, the Purcell House on Forest Avenue was built by Gray’s son and daughter-in-law across the street from Gray’s house. That couples’

Edward and Mary Hills/Thomas and Irene DeCaro House (Frank Lloyd Wright remodel, 1906)

William and Frances Copeland House (Frank Lloyd Wright remodel, 1909)

B10 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ May 18, 2022

son, William Gray Purcell, became a noted Prairie School architect. The Copelands, whose Italianate House on Forest Avenue was also remodeled by Wright, had several daughters. Their daughter Frances married Walter Pratt Beachy, Susan Beachy’s son. Walter Beachy worked with Frank Lloyd Wright’s second son, John, in creating the iconic Lincoln Logs toys. The Copelands’ younger daughter, Harriet, lived with her family in Wright’s Home and Studio from 1929 to 1934 as a renter. Blaine notes that the Humphrey House, one of the older homes on this year’s walk with a build date of 1887, was once part of a much larger parcel. The Humphreys owned the southeast corner of Forest and Elizabeth Court, including the lots that are now

2, 4, and 6 Elizabeth Court. They built their first house on Lot 2 and their second house, which is featured on Wright Plus, on Lot 4. The Humphreys sold Lot 6 to the Gale family, who constructed the Laura Gale House on the site. Laura and Thomas Gale purchased the Humphrey House and to live in while their home on Lot 6 was under construction. Thomas Gale died before the family moved in to the Humphrey house on Lot 4. Blaine says the connections, some of which are just being discovered today with better research methods, make for a fun walk. “I don’t know if all blocks have this much interrelationship,” Blaine said. “It makes for a fun little glimpse into life in those days.”

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ADDRESS............................................................................. REALTY CO.......................................... LISTING PRICE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TIME 505 River Oaks Drive, River Forest........................................RE/MAX In The Village........................ $739,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open Sunday 11-1

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7544 W. North Avenue Elmwood Park, IL 708.452.5151

7375 W. North Ave. River Forest 708.771.8040 tomcarraher.realtor.com

May 18, 2022 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B11

P R O P E R T Y

Oak Park home sells for $1,032,000

T R A N S F E R S

The following property transfers were reported by the Cook County Clerk from January 2022. Where addresses appear incomplete, for instance where a unit number appears missing, that information was not provided by the clerk.

OAK PARK ADDRESS

PRICE

SELLER

BUYER

523 Wesley Ave 6648 Roosevelt Rd 841 N Euclid Ave 1110 N Kenilworth Ave 323 S Grove Ave 1102 N Taylor Ave 138 Clinton Ave 544 N Kenilworth Ave 911 N East Ave 1127 S Harvey Ave 1200 Columbian Ave 518 N Ridgeland Ave 1143 N Kenilworth Ave 1047 Woodbine Ave 1228 Columbian Ave 134 S Scoville Ave 738 S Elmwood Ave 823 S Harvey Ave 821 S Humphrey Ave 250 Iowa St 617 S Kenilworth Ave 1218 N Harvey Ave 300 Home Ave 721 Ontario St 611 S Harvey Ave 235 S Marion St 222 Lake St 637 S Ridgeland Ave 617 S Euclid Ave 802 Harvard St 931 S Humphrey Ave 646 N Grove Ave 1110 N Humphrey Ave 605 S Lyman Ave 618 S Cuyler Ave 612 S Highland Ave

Unknown $1,485,500 $1,032,000 $937,000 $840,000 $755,000 $750,000 $700,000 $689,000 $675,000 $670,000 $655,000 $643,000 $640,000 $640,000 $600,000 $591,000 $585,000 $549,000 $540,000 $540,000 $533,000 $500,000 $475,000 $470,000 $461,500 $450,000 $438,000 $430,000 $415,000 $405,000 $365,000 $360,000 $350,000 $345,000 $327,000

The Judicial Sales Corp Oil Express Natl Inc Welch Kenna Masuda Cleaveland William C Jackola Glenn D Jr Fashomz Investments Inc Boyd-Pitman Selena Jenkins Lewis W Dilenardi Steven Winters Michelle D Hayden John Foust Michael Matigian Diana C Tr Lemieux John P Carberry Colm Paul Noel C Flannery Bernadette Yingling Charles Sheehanmanor Llc White Malcolm J Tr Martin Frederick A Tr Foster Ronald Molitas Sammy Tr Hafeman Carol Pilcher Elmer Jr Staffeldt Jeffrey Eugene 222 Lake St Llc Tyson Spencer A Chitwood Judith M Tr Biel Joseph R Crystal Canyon Llc Lorch Janet A Gulley Nathan T Mojica Jose M Gomez-Torres Aileen Tr Moore Tamson

Deutsche Bk Natl Trust Co Tr Aterra 159 6644 Roosevelt Oak Pk Llc Kurdziel Annie Buerki Robert A Vogt Scott Lu Ting Tran Gillespie Christine K Johnson Kurt Platt Lauren Bogzevitz Christopher Kalamkar Anand Oshinowo Sarah George Princy P Sharpe Robert C French Lisa Lockett-Hart Mercedez Vasquez Melissa De Jesus De La Pena-Gamboa Nathalie Morefield David Kooyers Kaitlyn L Paice Gary P Peterson Thomas J Zamula Sergiy Logan Squared Llc Hillman Brandy J Downey William Donald Idot1966 Llc Herring Phillip M Barry Megan Alfaro Cynthia Jones Xavier Escobedo Mignel Arzu Rose A Spruce And Douglas Llc Callone Natalie Del Villar Valeria Milagros

B12 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ May 18, 2022

841 N Euclid Ave., Oak Park

OAK PARK ADDRESS

PRICE

SELLER

BUYER

644 S Cuyler Ave 1047 N Humphrey Ave 1105 S Lombard Ave 7110 Roosevelt Rd 169 N Grove Ave 169 N Grove Ave 807 N Lombard Ave 428 S Maple Ave 222 N Marion St 304 N Oak Park Ave 927 S Grove Ave 420 Home Ave 609 Madison St 127 Washington Blvd 425 Home Ave 1033 Ontario St 340 N Austin Blvd 815 Lake St 821 Lake St 222 N Grove Ave 405 S Elmwood Ave 720 N Austin Blvd

$325,000 $315,000 $310,000 $250,000 $247,000 $242,500 $235,000 $229,000 $227,000 $220,000 $215,000 $179,000 $175,000 $175,000 $172,500 $172,000 $170,000 $153,500 $137,000 $135,000 $135,000 $128,000

Jiang Petra Boyd Dawn T Beasley Angela M Solis Pedro Williams Thomas Shewmake Donald P Espinoza B Victor Wessels Jay D Tr Qiu Wet Rodgers Bran T Ganschow David Martinez Marissa 1016a Llc Williams Kyle Geoege Haggar Javier F Cosbey John J Reece Amy Marie Wasson Samuel Matthew Clausen Bente Unser Robert Extr Williams Brenda J Sow Comm Dev Corp

Flynn David C Gray Pamela Divita Elaine C Ungureanu Predrag Tang Xiaoyin Cosbey John Sun Michael L Ross Finlay Schiess Ronda S Morrissy Kelly A Martinez Raymundo Williams Matthew Yerzin Prop 609 Llc Santori Gianna Sadler Carl Pond Frank C Luevano Charity A Gladysz David John Trevisano Trust Cherny Vladimir V Spiller Steve Magee Alantrice

P R O P E R T Y

T R A N S F E R S

OAK PARK ADDRESS

PRICE

SELLER

BUYER

925 Clarence Ave 405 Home Ave 104 N. Oak Park 211 N Grove Ave 415 Wesley Ave 1104 S Austin Blvd

$121,000 $118,000 $103,000 $102,500 $100,000 $100,000

Olmstead Lisa Kay Rhoten Robert R Newnett I Llc Stratton Scott Stevaux Noopoth Smith Bonita Tr

Razo Rosita Sokhan Nataliya Safford Charo Conway Jacques A Jackson La Torsha Shanae Dominic Pilati

$1,400,000 $1,297,000 $900,000 $835,000 $790,000 $660,000 $487,000 $455,000 $341,000 $340,000 $255,000 $210,000

414 Clinton Pl 7204 Oak Ave 1531 Monroe Ave

$188,000 $140,000 $124,000

Novelle Nicholas A Cagnina Michael Alsip Llc Kemper Edward Michael Li Jun Chicago Title Land Trust Co Tr 3931 Patzelt Grace R Tr Lococo Donna C Tr Pettinger John Supekar Sarang Lawrence Raymond L Chicago Title Land Trust Co Tr 8002385725 Pace Derrick Dmytrenko Iryna Newnett I Llc

Green Certified • Ecobrokers • Member, Illinois Green Business Association

We are a local independent real estate company, making decisions that are best for our clients, our community, and our climate.

RIVER FOREST 937 Keystone Ave 1038 Park Ave 1423 Bonnie Brae Pl 539 Franklin Ave 1339 Ashland Ave 7762 Madison St 540 Forest Ave 303 Forest Ave 317 Ashland Ave 8225 Lake St 411 Ashland Ave 7919 North Ave

Going Above and Beyond for our Real Estate clients since 2007!

Oneill Daniel B Bruce Matthew Kemper Edward M Hanley Joseph R Aaronson Alexandra Hdz Holdings Llc Series 7762 Escobedo Matthew V Gillespie Lauren Faust Karen Schmit Coryn M Andersen Michael W Tr Honaman Lisa Loofbourrow David Kent Angeles Melissa Garcia Alicix

Denise Sacks

Michele Strimaitis

Cynthia Howe Gajewski

Karen Baldwin

Debra Rachal

Phil Joseph

Erica Cuneen

Martha Murphy

Kristen Hollinden

Isaac Jordan

Shalena Thomas

Miriam Tamayo

Ruby Blair

Denise Espinosa

Beyond Properties Realty Group • 109 N Marion Street, Oak Park, IL 60301 Visit us at BeyondPropertiesRealty.com

PRICE CHANGE!

HISTORIC BEAUTY!

846 KENILWORTH, OAK PARK $699,000 :: 4 BED :: 2.5 BATH

139 S GROVE, OAK PARK $1,179,000 :: 6 BED :: 4.5 BATH

American Four Square, a great family home.

Majestic Victorian in central Oak Park Historic District.

FOREST PARK 945 Elgin Ave 508 Thomas Ave 426 Hannah Ave 7652 Wilcox St 827 Circle Avek 1238 Marengo Ave 934 Lathrop Ave 7329 Jackson Blvd 1039 Troost Ave 1021 Elgin Ave 7716 Harvard St 1022 Troost Ave 211 Elgin Avek 235 Marengo Ave 1430 Elgin Ave 235 Marengo Ave 7640 Madison St 7251 Randolph St 300 Circle Ave 926 Dunlop Ave

Unknown $595,000 $545,000 $513,000 $469,000 $387,000 $317,000 $315,000 $300,000 $280,000 $267,000 $265,000 $250,000 $235,000 $231,000 $225,000 $150,000 $127,500 $105,000 $77,000

The Judicial Sales Corp Spinelle Michael S Zinni Mark F Tr Gk Home Inc Javor Kenneth Villalobos Lindy V&T Inv Corp Pickren Asia M Chicago Title Land Trust Co Tr 2000 Villalobos Mark Scott Lita G Powell Victor Hasegaw Naoto Woods Ashley M Largenterprises Llc Gongol Kenneth E Trust Chicago Title Land Trust Co Tr 5388 Ruan Xulei Alvarez Milton M Algazzar Samia

Us Bk Trust Natl Assn Tr Abraham Mary Stigger Aaron Piscopo Alexander Jacob David M Hall Brandy Laverdure Christophe Corral Alex Deluca Jennifer M Pedraza Alejandro Sorrell Natalie Howard Stephen L Mendoza Luth M Bowinan Lolita M Garza Daniel A Martin Mildred Buckley Christopher Grover Timothy Cobos Cindy G Fleitas Mario A Pereyra

KATHY & TONY IWERSEN

708.772.8040 708.772.8041 tonyiwersen@atproperties.com

May 18, 2022 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B13

Wednesday Journal, April 13, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

S P O N S O R E D

C O N T E N T

Savor five sunny pleasures in Elmwood Park

MELISSA ELSMO

A range of outdoor dining options entice al fresco diners to venture north

Basking in the sun on a breezy Food Writer patio during the warm summer months is a hallmark of the Chicagoland dining scene. No matter if you are looking for a picnic table on a grassy lawn, a cluster of bustling sidewalk tables or an indoor-outdoor party room, Elmwood Park has a proper space to meet practically any al fresco dining desire. As the calendar

moves deeper into spring, outdoor dining spaces along Restaurant Row (and beyond) are coming back to life. Get your daily dose of Vitamin D while savoring iconic beef sandwiches, sunny shrimp and cooling ice cream shakes in our sister suburb to the north. 1. PORK ON A PICNIC TABLE: Looking to fulfill an all-American picnic fantasy? Plan to pay a visit to Russell’s Barbecue, 1621 N. Thatcher Ave. -- the meat-focused mainstay has been a family tradition since 1930. Just behind the retro restaurant, diners will discover a bevy of picnic tables just waiting to be used. No matter if you order the original slow roasted pork sandwich or a slab of tender ribs, pork tends to taste better when served on a picnic table. Russell’s simply seasoned meats are designed to be doused with their house made barbecue sauce prized for the Jamaican spices and bold cinnamon notes that keep customers coming back to Russell’s year-after-year. 2. SAVOR SUMMER AT JOHNNIE’S: Widely celebrated for serving some of best Italian beef sandwiches, Johnnie’s, 7500 North Ave., is only made better by a

The original pork sandwich on a picnic table at Russell’s Barbecue in Elmwood Park. Melissa Elsmo

sunny day and a cup of Italian ice. Though beef piled on a bakery bun and enhanced by the addition of optional sweet or hot peppers is a delightful indulgence anytime of year, Johnnie’s only offers outdoor seating at their counter service venue. For more than 60 years, hungry folks have been lining up on sunny days to savor one of Chicago’s signature sandwiches. 3. FEEL THE BREEZE AT JIM AND PETE’S: Jim and Pete’s state-of-theart party room is designed to welcome guests to enjoy an indoor-outdoor dining experience. The retractable roof offers protection from a sudden rain shower when dining at the Italian mainstay, 7806 W. North Ave. Enjoy cross breezes as you savor house made rigatoni, succulent seafood, or remarkable risotto at Jim and Pete’s.

A chocolate shake from Burger Moovment.

B14 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ May 18, 2022

Lourdes Nicholls

4. A MINI GET AWAY: Flowing plants, windchimes and twinkle lights bring a distinctly vacation feel to Café Cubano, 7426 W. North Ave. Gather around a table on the sidewalk to enjoy sunny dishes like the camerones flamenco appetizer — the dish featuring shrimp in tomato sauce with toast, is large enough to be enjoyed in

Johnnie’s beef sandwich with lemon ice. Andy Kaczkowski

Wednesday Journal, April 13, 2022

OAKPARK.COM | RIVERFOREST.COM

Feel the Breeze at Jim and Pete’s when you dine in their party room with a retractable celling.

Provided

Pistachio and hazelnut gelato on a gorgeous day at Massa Café Italiano. Melissa Elsmo

lieu of an entrée. No matter what you order it will pair perfectly with a mojito! 5. COOL OFF WITH SWEET TREATS: If you crave a sweet ending to a sunny day look no further than Restaurant Row along North Avenue for gelato filled cones or cold ice cream shakes. The summer tradition of patio dining is alive and well at Massa Café Italiano, at 7434 W. North Ave. The cheery café is a natural gathering place in Elmwood Park and no visit to the vibrant destination is complete without a scoop of

their award-winning gelato — available in traditional flavors. Burger Moovment, 7512 W. North Ave., serves up nostalgia in the form of stackable smash burgers, crispy handcut fries and sweet ice cream shakes. The signature toasted coconut shake is the perfect sweet indulgence on a toasty day, but everyday flavors like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, caramel, and cookies and cream are all suited to keeping you cool on a warm afternoon.

Shrimp in the sun at Cafe Cubano. Melissa Elsmo

For more culinary delights, visit OakPark.com and click on EATS. May 18, 2022 ■ Wednesday Journal/Forest Park Review

B15

BairdWarner.com

Hometown

When it’s more than a home, you need a team with more to offer.

528 N Cuyler Ave Oak Park | $890,000 Swati Saxena

708 Gunderson Ave Oak Park | $709,000 Vanessa Willey

101 N Euclid Ave #12 Oak Park | $580,000 Patricia McGowan

729 S Oak Park Ave Oak Park | $559,000 Bethanny Alexander

28 Ashland Ave River Forest | $535,000 Sheila Price

3742 Gunderson Ave Berwyn | $500,000 The Dita Group

604 Woodbine Ave Oak Park | $499,900 Elizabeth O’Connell

808 N Humphrey Ave Oak Park | $415,000 Saretta Joyner

1631 N 73rd Ave Elmwood Park | $400,000 Cathy Yanda

8219 Lake St River Forest | $395,000 Catherine Simon-Vobornik

170 N Marion St #9 Oak Park | $379,000 Patricia McGowan

824 N Ridgeland Ave Oak Park | $359,000 Edwin Wald

324 N Marion St #2N Oak Park | $322,000 Carla Taylor

3833 Wenonah Ave Berwyn | $315,000 Roberta Ruiz

1407 N Harlem Ave B Oak Park | $300,000 Saretta Joyner

2400 S 2nd Ave North Riverside | $280,000 The Dita Group

427 S Taylor Ave #3N Oak Park | $225,000 Carla Taylor

7344 Lake St #3E River Forest | $210,000 Elizabeth O’Connell

1200 Cuyler Ave C2 Berwyn | $159,900 Roman Lewis

615 Washington Blvd #1S Oak Park | $152,500 Saretta Joyner

Baird & Warner Oak Park/River Forest | 1037 Chicago Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 | 708.697.5900 | oakpark.bairdwarner.com Source: BrokerMetrics® LLC, 1/1/2019 - 12/ 31/2019Detached and Attached only. Chicagoland PMSA

B16 View more at OakPark.com/Real-Estate ■ May 18, 2022